Ecologue

The world is a weird place.

And in the world of waste, people do odd things in order to lower the amount of trash in the world. Join me, Reedcycler, and for the next nine weeks I will show you a selection of strange sustainability and waste-related stories.

Boat made of water bottles sails the sea

San Francisco is known for its spectacles, but on March 20, 2010, the city was host to one that turned most gazes: a ship made entirely from recycled plastic. Named the Plastiki, the catamaran was to cross the Pacific Ocean to Sydney, Australia, in order to raise awareness about the massive amounts of plastic pollution in the world’s oceans. The entire voyage covered 8,000 nautical miles.

The vessel was created using 12,500 recovered water bottles, as well as other PET plastic waste, and came equip with solar panels, wind turbines, bicycle generators, and a small garden.

From bottles to bridges: world’s largest bottle structure

Water bottles are a fairly resilient material, and have been used to create a variety of objects, as showcased above. But would you want to walk on a bridge made from plastic bottles?

That’s what the team of volunteers at Ecostuff did, creating what may be the world’s largest plastic bottle structure in Timsoara, Romania. By tying together plastic plastic bottles with polypropylene rope, and securing the bottles in welded cages made of nets, the crew created 76 brick-like modules, which were attached together to form the bridge.

This post is part of the “Reedcycler’s Believe it or Not” blog series, which showcases weird waste-related stories. Tune in on Mondays each week for more.