Recycled Plastic Bottles — Building Material for Classrooms

Submitted by Kasia_Marciszewska on Fri, 01/08/2010 - 2:26pm

Reduce, Reuse, RecycleIt’s all about the three Rs right? — Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Laura Kutner certainly took this idea to a whole new level when she led the way in the construction of a school building in Guatemala, using discarded plastic bottles.

The inspiration came to her when she realized there was plastic trash everywhere yet classrooms had no walls. Why not use the resources available and create a solution?

Kutner, a Peace Corps volunteer, gathered the community of Granados — a village of 900 people — to collect more than 4,000 used plastic drink bottles. They then stuffed these bottles with other waste material and stacked them side by side, tied them with chicken wire and coated them with a cement-sand mix. 

The Guatemalan group Pura Vida, inspired Kutner to the design. The group was using bottle-filled “eco-blocks” for construction projects.  With the help of local businesses, who donated labor and materials, and the Hug it Forward organization the project was successfully completed.

I’m no engineer but I was very impressed at this hands-on yet useful approach. This sustainable solution was a great gift to the children of the school. Not only did they recycle plastic bottles that would have otherwise littered the area, they received the biggest reward — a safe, stable building to learn in.  

Read the full story here: www.oregonlive.com

Peace Corps
Pura Vida
Hug it Forward

 

 

plastics as building materials

Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 08/20/2010 - 2:21am.
At first, I could not believe that the tile used in making our sidewalk was from plastics wastes, but when I get to see how the company did it - I was just amazed with the genius work! Aside from plastic products, papers can also be reused and recycled. If we have bulks of used papers in our home or workplace, we can ask a shredding San Antonio company to assist us in properly disposing them or have them used for other purposes such as packaging or pet bedding. We just need the right information and proper attitude in integrating practicality in our daily activities.

Simply Amazing

Submitted by Anonymous on Sat, 04/24/2010 - 3:58am.
That was indeed impressive! The amount of plastic waste nowadays is just overwhelming! I'm really glad some people are thinking of new ways to reduce trash. Not only that, they were also able to build walls for the classrooms. God bless their souls. Condensing Boilers