Alternative Eco-building Project

 -- Plastic Bottles - Another Useful Construction Material --

Have you seen plastic bottle houses before? 

Building with bottles as a construction and wall decoration material is not such a new idea - we’ve seen reports and articles over the last 2 dozen years in magazines and online where people have used glass and plastic bottles in their adobe and cob design houses in the US, and here in the Kootenays we have a small highway tourist stop – a house made entirely of glass bottles. I've also seen color bottles used in hallway walls and bathroom walls that allow light in the room without compromising privacy issues. 

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..However, when I read of a new project in Nigeria where they are utilizing plastic bottles to build economic homes I was really intrigued. Apparently the bottles are first filled with sand, capped, and melded together with mud and concrete to build 2 bedroom homes for people – costing less than $13,000 – I felt like celebrating when read about this project. 

The project started with a trial, one home was built, now they are planning on expanding a school to accommodate their growing needs. Fire proof, earthquake resistant, capable of a stable interior temperature of 18˚ C… the 2 bedroom home used over 14,000 bottles obtained from businesses and organizations, and also collected along the roadways. The school expansion project is expected to take 200,000 bottles – perfect for an area where recycling is not readily available.

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