Who would have thought? Bangladesh does not have much when it comes to rocks. As in very little. The whole country sits on a sand / clay mixture rather than stone and it is not rich in forests either. This could be a major issue when are trying to build something.
The Bangladeshi response to this was to develop this booming brick-making industry. The country is dotted with thousands of brick kilns, everywhere you turn there is another one.
It all starts with the sand. They usually dredge it off the bottom of rivers and load it into trucks to take to the factories.
In the end, you still need something big and hard to use as a foundation when you try to build something. So after the bricks are made and transported, they are often broken down to mix into cement to make foundations or to fill in other places. The bricks are broken by hand, which is also back-breaking manual labor.
I though it seemed like a shame to smash up all these brand-new bricks, so someone tried to explain that it’s like using breadcrumbs when you cook: first you make the bread, then you take it apart into breadcrumbs, and you put the crumbs into the final recipe and you end up with an even better final product. Anyways, many of the nice new bricks are immediately broken down for cement.
The Bangladeshi response to this was to develop this booming brick-making industry. The country is dotted with thousands of brick kilns, everywhere you turn there is another one.
It all starts with the sand. They usually dredge it off the bottom of rivers and load it into trucks to take to the factories.
Ton of workers turn the excavated mud into brick forms which will then be dried in the sun and later burned in an oven. During the heat of the day workers stack piles of bricks onto their heads. Soon everything is covered with red brick dust. The brick workers are constantly loading trucks and boats which carry tons of bricks from the brick-making areas into the city where they are sold to construction sides. Each factory has its distinctive three-letter brand that it molds onto the bricks. This would make for a nice brick collection if one would care to start one.
In the end, you still need something big and hard to use as a foundation when you try to build something. So after the bricks are made and transported, they are often broken down to mix into cement to make foundations or to fill in other places. The bricks are broken by hand, which is also back-breaking manual labor.
I though it seemed like a shame to smash up all these brand-new bricks, so someone tried to explain that it’s like using breadcrumbs when you cook: first you make the bread, then you take it apart into breadcrumbs, and you put the crumbs into the final recipe and you end up with an even better final product. Anyways, many of the nice new bricks are immediately broken down for cement.
Bottom line: The brick dust discharges from the 1,100 brick kilns that surround the city of Dhaka are the main sources of pollution in Dhaka. And breathing the brick dust resulting from breaking them down is not fun either.
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