Papercrete is a building material consisting of re-pulped paper fiber with Portland cement or clay and / or other added soil. First patented in 1928, it was revived during the eighties. Although perceived as an environmentally friendly material due to the significant recycled content, this is compensated by the presence of cement. The material lacks standardization and, therefore, proper use requires care and experience. Eric Patterson and Mike McCain, who have been credited with the independence of "inventing" papercrete (they called it "padobe" and "fibrous cement"), have contributed significantly to research into machinery to manufacture it and ways to use it to build.
Papercrete is rapidly gaining a surge of support among the "do it yourself" builders. It is claimed to be a very attractive building material because of its very low cost, light weight and high performance. Many owners / builders are helping to promote technology and share their experiences through the Internet through resources such as "Papercreters".