Clay bricks are extensively used as building material worldwide. Natural soil deposits are in constant reduction due to the frequent use of clay to manufacture bricks. About 1600 billion bricks are produced annually by the consumption of millions of tons of natural resources. The prime focus of this study is to assess the feasibility of using a composite mixture of waste brick powder (WBP) and waste ceramic powder (WCP) as a replacement for depleting natural resource “clay” in brick manufacturing. Based upon the previous studies, the replacement levels were kept as (4 + 5)%, (8 + 10)%, and (12 + 15)% of WCP and WBP, respectively. The brick specimens were evaluated in terms of compressive strength, modulus of rupture, density, water absorption, efflorescence, apparent porosity, resistance to chemical attack and sulfate attack, and freeze-thaw resistance. The study reveals that about 27% of clay can be replaced with ceramic waste powder and waste brick powder, which can preserve a massive amount of natural clay without compromising the quality of the bricks.

In cement composites, usually, reinforcement is provided to restrict the crack development and their further propagation under service conditions. Typically, reinforcements utilized in cementitious composites range from nanometer scale to millimeter scale by using nano-, micro-, and millimeter-sized fibers and particles. These reinforcements provide the crack arresting mechanisms at the nano/microscale and restrict the growth of the cracks under service loads, but usually, the synthesis of nano/microfibers, and afterward their dispersion in the cementitious materials, pose difficulty, thus limiting their vast application in the construction industry. Carbonaceous inerts are green materials since they are capable of capturing and storing carbon, thus limiting the emission of CO₂ to the atmosphere. In the present study, a comprehensive review of the synthesis of low cost and environmentally friendly nano/micro carbonaceous inerts from pyrolysis of different agricultural/industrial wastes, and afterward, their application in the cementitious materials for producing high performance cementitious composites is presented, which have the potential to be used as nano/micro reinforcement in the cementitious matrix.