Quick and easy homestead uses for Plastic Bottles (PET)

Step 7 Building Brick

Fill the bottle with dirt and you have a brick. Dirt is a very cheap building material, but you usually need it to be a certain quality, with a proper sand/clay ratio. However, with the plastic bottles, you can build with any type of dirt. Use mortar in between the bottles, as with any other brick. Be sure to cover the ends of the bottles to avoid seeing them in the finished wall.

Alternatively, leave the bottles empty, or full of air. This will give the wall a better insulation value.

Leave a bottle exposed, and insert a solar garden light in the other end. Instant wall lighting.

Comments

[Ron Burgundy]

great ideas. instead of precious soil, how about trash, like plastic bags, used as filler? ive heard of a peace corp student who built a small school like that. She asked 20 students to bring as many bottles as they could find to the site, and she used the trash that littered the streets in the community to fill the bottles with, then some chicken wire, cement and paint, now the kids have a school.

stay classy planet Earth

[katz]

Heineken has invented a WOBO (World Bottle) long time ago (I saw them in a museum), but other then an idea and a few sample bottles this unfortunately didn't go any further... what a pity! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bottle_wall

[merryk]

I would like to build a planter about 2-3 foot tall at the beach with this process. If I use empty bottles, how deep a foundation would I need, keeping in mind my soil is sand?

[nutsandbolts_64]

hmm.... dirt sand clay bits of rocks garbage waste What else?

[nutsandbolts_64]

Ohh ya paper popsicle sticks used band aids and bandages dirty water water unusable tape used fabrics and many more......

[A good name]

I don't know that I like this idea... topsoil is a valuable resource, and we actually have less on this planet than you'd think. Sand, maybe, soil? No.

[secretsoto]

love it