• Climate
    • Climate Change
    • Extreme Weather
    • Mitigation
    • Natural Phenomena
  • Green Living
    • Buildings
    • Farming
    • Food and Drink
    • Holidays
    • Home & Garden
    • Natural Health
    • Personal Journey
    • Shopping
  • Resources
    • Finance
    • Water
      • Fresh Water
      • Oceans
    • Energy
    • Trees
    • Waste
      • Composting
      • Pollution
      • Recycling
      • Reduction
      • Repurpose
      • Reuse
  • Biodiversity
    • Air
    • Water
    • Land
  • Innovation
    • Creativity
    • Design
      • Green Building
    • Science
  • Community
    • Civil Society Work
    • Climate Express
    • Eco Communities
    • Faith communities
    • Gatherings
      • Awards
      • Conferences
      • Expo
    • Green Jobs
    • Vulnerable People
  • Responsibility
    • Calls to Action
    • Business
      • Corporate
      • SME’s
    • Governance
      • Cities & Towns
      • Governments
      • Policy Development
    • Individual
  • Training
    • Books
    • Courses
    • DVD’s & Films
    • Youth
      • Bursaries
      • Challenges
      • Competitions
      • Internships
      • Mentorships
      • Schools

The Green Times

Climate change is the most widespread & complex problem humanity has ever faced! There is no time to waste and we need to turn green talk into profound green action. This is the intention of the GREEN TIMES.

You are here: Home / Articles / Innovation / Creativity / From bottles to buildings

From bottles to buildings

October 13, 2011 Leave a Comment

from-bottles-to-buildingsA house constructed from recycled plastic bottles has been built in Kaduna State, Nigeria.

The house has been built using earth-filled plastic bottle ‘bricks’ and mud. The three-room structure is so sturdy that it could stand for thousands of years.

recycling for the environment

Plastic bottles take hundreds years to biodegrade in landfill. In Nigeria millions of plastic bottles are dumped into waterways and landfill each year causing pollution, erosion, irrigation blockages and health problems.

Bottle houses take this dangerous waste out of the environment and make it useful.

Katrin Macmillan launched Nigeria’s bottle recycling programme in December 2010. Used plastic bottles and their lids are now being collected from hotels, restaurants, homes and embassies and, so far, thousands of bottles have been collected for the bottle house builds. This is what she had to say about the project:

“Nigeria has a serious waste and energy problem and this project is one small step towards making positive changes. This project can be easily replicated and is a wonderful way to enable Nigeria to recycle in a creative and practical way. Following on from this first Nigerian bottle house the children at the African School of Excellence in Seluja have started making the bottle ‘bricks’ for their new school hall and students will be involved throughout the build. The school hall will take 200,000 bottles out of landfill and into education.”

energy

Yahaya Ahmed, CEO of Development Association for Renewable Energies (DARE), set out to build energy-autonomous houses from recycled materials. DARE have brought Andres Froesse, founder of Eco-Tec Soluciones Ambientales, to Nigeria to train local masons in the bottle building technique. Land for Nigeria’s first bottle building was donated to the project by engineer Chris Vassilou.

The bottle house will be solar powered, with a fuel-efficient clean cookstove, urine filtration fertilisation systems and water purification tanks, thereby making it energy autonomous.

bottle school

The next Nigerian bottle building project is a school hall in Seluja at the Africa School of Excellence, which urgently needs classroom space.

The school children are being trained in the bottle brick making technique and the newly trained masons will lead the build in January 2012.

Photos:

1. The foundation is in place and the bottle walls begin.
2. Bottle walls and pillars go up.
3. Children making bottle-bricks.
4. Walls of the bottle house are plastered

Photos by Andreas Froese, ECOTEC

[iframe width=”640″ height=”360″ src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/Dgv5uV64j44?feature=player_embedded” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen]


More that you may like:

Light up your life
Dog poop powers park lights
New washers to clean polystyrene
Cigarette butt bins to curb toxic beach pollutant

Share this:

  • Google
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • More
  • Email
  • Print
  • Pinterest
tgt_bottom_banner_border_two_frames

Leave a Reply or Follow Cancel reply

Welcome to SA\s green news portal
Advertise here
  •      ECO DIRECTORY
    • Accommodation
    • Animals
    • Building
    • Cleaning
    • Clothing
    • Cosmetics
    • Electronics
    • Energy
      • Saving
      • Solar
    • Financial Services
    • Food/Farming
    • Gardening
    • Government
    • Health
    • Office
    • Publications
    • Restaurants
    • Supermarkets
    • Training
    • Transport
    • Trees
    • Waste
      • Composting
      • Recycling
    • Water
    • Web Services

Events

  1. Water Recycling Talk

    April 21 @ 9:00 am - 11:00 am
  2. Support the ban of animal testing

    April 21 @ 10:00 am - 1:00 pm
  3. World Environment Day

    May 5 @ 8:00 am - 5:00 pm
  4. African Utility Week

    May 15 @ 8:00 am - May 17 @ 5:00 pm
  5. Emerging Creative Leaders Cape Town Fellowship Program

    May 26 @ 8:00 am - June 1 @ 5:00 pm

View All Events

advertise with Green Times

Tags

Africa agriculture America animals awards Cape Town carbon emissions children climate change community conference conservation drought economy education energy Eskom extreme weather farming food global warming government Greenpeace health ocean oceans petco plastic Plastics Federation of South Africa Plastics SA pollution protect Recycling renewable energy research science solar energy South Africa species protection sustainability united nations waste Water wildlife youth
2012-giving-thanks-for-environmental-wins
CONTRIBUTE HERE
Do you like what we do? Would you like to help keep this work afloat with a small monthly contribution? Join as a member and let's do it together.
nedbank-plays-pivotal-role-in-sas-first-green-bond
BECOME A SPONSOR
Doing good is good for business. We rely on corporate CSI and philanthropic support to drive sustainability mainstream, where it belongs.
  • ABOUT GREEN TIMES
    • Our Ethos
    • Our Intention
  • Support
    • Editorial
    • Sales
    • Contributions
  • Journalist Training
  • Feedback from Our Clients
  • Newsfeed Archive
JOIN OUR SOCIAL NETWORKS
  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Linkedin
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
JOIN OUR MONTHLY NEWSFEED
Like our work? Please help Subscribe-now

      · Copyright © 2011–2018 All rights reserved · GREEN TIMES +2721 855 0518 · Design & Admin - THE GREEN TIMES ·

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.