SEVENSEAS Marine Conservation & Travel Issue 18, November 2016 | Page 117

like wind, waves, and the sun can break down plastic into tiny pieces. Animals confuse these tiny pieces of plastic for food, and end up consuming them. Eating plastic gives these animals a false sense of fullness which leads to malnutrition. Ingested plastic can also get stuck in their digestive tract, preventing future feeding and causing internal lacerations. Plastic is threatening our natural world. Luckily there are people who are working to solve this problem and prevent it from happening in the future.

While exploring Bocas, I was able to speak with a man who has a unique solution to the plastic problem in Panama. His name is Robert Bezeau and he is collecting discarded plastic bottles from Bocas del Toro and reusing them in a way you would never imagine. He is building houses out of the plastic bottles. Yes, I said houses. Made out of plastic bottles! Isn’t that crazy? His project is called the Plastic Bottle Village, and I had the opportunity to tour it during my trip. It was unlike anything I have ever seen.

Robert is a Canadian who moved to Bocas a few years ago. Upon his arrival, he recognized the islands’ heavy reliance on plastic bottles and the apparent lack of a proper recycling program. As an experienced home builder, Robert believed he could combine his home building talents with his desire to start a comprehensive recycling program. He spent several months collecting plastic bottles and testing different building techniques. Some building designs worked better than others and some materials worked better than others. Robert settled on a simple house design that required three ingredients: rebar, wire mesh, and plastic bottles. The rebar and wire mesh are combined to form rectangular cages. The cages are then filled with the plastic bottles and linked together to create the house’s walls. Concrete is poured over the cages, and, after this step, it is nearly impossible to tell that the house is made out of plastic bottles. Robert estimates that 10,000 bottles are used to make one house. That’s 10,000 bottles that are no longer lining streets or floating in the ocean!

Aside from removing thousands and thousands of plastic bottles from the environment, there are many more benefits to building plastic bottle houses. First, the cost of building a house with plastic bottles is minimal. This means the cost of buying a plastic house is also much lower than buying a traditional home made of wood and other materials that are expensive. Since all of the plastic bottles are pulled out of the trash -- thus, free --material cost is low. Robert estimated that a 10 foot x 10 foot house costs about $1,200 USD to manufacture. In places where affordable housing is needed, plastic bottle houses are also a great solution to a social problem. These plastic houses are lightweight. Before the concrete is poured, the house walls weigh only 60 pounds. This means that the walls can easily be transported to their final destination. You could even carry the walls yourself! Even more exciting, though, is the energy efficiency of the plastic bottle homes. The plastic bottles provide a layer of built-in insulation. The inside of a plastic bottle house is often 35ºF/17ºC cooler than the outside. With an average yearly high temperature of 80ºF/27ºC in Bocas, this means that residents could live in these homes without an air conditioning unit, thus reducing their environmental impact even further! Last on the list of benefits is the fact that plastic bottle houses are resistant to earthquakes. The unique paneled wall design allows for flexibility and movement of the house, making it resilient against the shaking and shifting experienced during an earthquake. A plastic bottle house is a sturdy house.

Robert plans to build 120 plastic bottle homes in the Plastic Bottle Village, which means a significant amount of plastic will be removed from the environment. The Village serves as a testament that we do not have to let trash take over the world if we work together to implement solutions. Many conservationists and concerned citizens are working hard to reduce the world’s dependence on single use plastics, and Robert is one of those people that are taking action in their own community to make this a reality.

“Change the world without changing the Earth.” These words were painted on the gates of the Plastic Bottle Village, and I couldn’t agree with them more. As humans, we are granted with the power of thought and creativity. Let’s work together and use our unique skills to change the world in a positive way. If you want to find out how to get a plastic bottle house of your own or if you want to learn more about Robert’s ideas and projects, visit plasticbottlevillage.com.

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Author Bio

Nicole is a graduate student at the University of Miami studying marine conservation. If she’s not at a beach, you can find her in the mountains. If you can’t find her there, check the nearest yoga studio. Nature is neat, go play outside!

Photo Captions

IMG_1: Robert’s first plastic bottle house. Photo taken by Nicole Wank.

IMG_2: Photo taken by Mary Salers.

IMG_3: Close-up view of the internal structure of a plastic bottle house. Photo taken by Nicole Wank.

IMG_4: Artwork posted on the gates of the Plastic Bottle Village depicting the location of five “garbage patches” in the ocean. Photo taken by Nicole Wank.

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