Bottles as Bricks

“Plastic bottles are increasingly becoming a menace to the environment due to the chemicals used in the manufacture, improper use and disposal. As noted by Plastics Industry (2011) reusing plastic bottles may seem safe, but a chemical found in reusable plastic bottles, known as Bisphenol A (BPA), is suspected of posing a health risk to human beings. That’s why the German carpenter Andreas Froese had the idea to use the bottles to construct houses or cisterns. When the bottles are filled with soil or sand they work as bricks and form a framework for walls or pillars. Plaster made of clay or a cement mixture fills the space between all bottles while a roof made of wood or corrugated metal completes the house. As only regional products are used the houses are cheap and can be afforded even by poor families. Additionally the method has so far proven to be earthquake resistant and allows short construction periods. This project intends to investigate the application of plastic bottles as one of the urban wastage in buildings construction and that how it can lead to sustainable development. It also mentions some ways for self-standing and insulating them in thermal and sound points of views and some positive points which this material have versus others. At the end, it concluded that in different factors such as time of execution, cost, load capacity, flexibility, reducing waste and energy efficiency, plastic bottles may be more effective compared to some conventional building materials such as brick, concrete and ceramic block.”