Arts Thread

ShitBrix is a bold and unconventional response to the problem of firewood sustainability. Made from dried horse manure, these stackable, burnable briquettes offer a lighter, more accessible, and circular alternative to traditional timber firewood. Each briquette is shaped for airflow and ignition, as well as easy stacking and transport. Rather than reinvent firewood, the project set out to reimagine the system. I explored low-energy drying methods using captured heat from existing agricultural processes, considered water-reuse systems, and explored how the wastewater by-product could be reused rather than discarded. The goal was to challenge what we define as waste and turn something overlooked into something genuinely useful. Initial tests in a standard log burner showed that ShitBrix hold their heat well, comparable to standard timber blocks of a similar size. A question I was frequently asked was, “Do they smell?” Answer: No. Dried horse poo is essentially a mixture of water, grass and hay, and once processed, the briquettes are almost completely scentless. ShitBrix made people laugh, then made them think. It placed second overall at the 2024 Audacious Student Startup Showcase, winning both Best in Sustainability and People’s Choice, proving that sometimes the weird ideas are the ones worth chasing.