Paradise beaches can quickly lose their appeal for tourists when invaded by sargassum, a brown algae of the genus *Sargassum C. Agardh* distributed across tropical and subtropical oceans. In Mexico's Riviera Maya, this seaweed was once considered a major problem. However, Omar de Jesús Vazquez Sánchez saw it as a raw material for homebuilding—transforming sargassum into sustainable bricks.
When left on the shore, sargassum emits a strong, unpleasant odor that drives tourists away and inflicts heavy economic losses on local governments and communities. Clearing this material is a major challenge—in Cancun, the government has previously sent as much as 40,000 tons of the algae to landfills. Yet, by creating SargaBlock, Omar did more than just find a better purpose for the waste; he created jobs and gave people in Mexico the opportunity to build their own homes more affordably.
