Students turn doggy doodoo into building bricks

Stray dogs - and the mess they make - are causing a stink in the Philippine capital Manila.

But one group of eight-graders might have found a new way to clean up their streets.

Their advisor says the group's 'bio bricks' - a mixture of dog poop and cement powder - will tackle two problems in one go.

(SOUNDBITE) (Filipino/English) SCIENCE ADVISER, MARK ACEBUCHE, SAYING:

"Our streets will really be cleaned up because the stray dogs that defecate on the streets, all their manure will be collected and then that will be transformed into this product. For the economy, this can help lower the prices of bricks and the costs of production. It will also allow people to have jobs for collecting manure and at the same time for building these bio bricks."

The students first collect and sun-dry the dog poop - before using it as an additive to cement powder.

The students also use orange juice to neutralize the smell.

Then the mixture is molded into rectangular bricks.

Not bad for a group of high school students who had initially only set out to clean up their streets:

(SOUNDBITE) (Filipino) PAYATAS HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT, STEPHANIE ELMIDO, SAYING:

"We were surprised with the result because it turned out stronger than hollow blocks based on the tests we ran."

The students say that the bio-bricks are ideal for sidewalk pavements or backyard walls.

And while the group admits that the bricks still have a faint odor - they aren't worried.

They say the smell will eventually fade with time.