Novel lightweight bricks have been produced by sintering mixes of dried water treatment sludge and rice husk. Samples containing up to 20wt.% rice husk have been fired using a heating schedule that allowed effective organic burn-out. Rice husk addition increased the porosity of sintered samples and higher sintering temperatures increased compressive strengths. Materials containing 15 wt.% rice husk that were sintered at 1100 degrees C produced low bulk density and relatively high strength materials that were compliant with relevant Taiwan standards for use as lightweight bricks. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.