Bottle Bricks
PROBLEM STATEMENT:
-Waste has become one of the largest global concerns creating land, water and air pollution
-A person creates waste of around 3 times their own weight annually
-It is estimated that by 2050, the ocean will contain more plastic by weight than fish
-Globally humans buy a million plastic bottles per minute
-91% of the plastic we use is not recycled
PROPOSED SOLUTION: Upcycle plastic waste into Ecobricks and use them to create useful things such as furniture and buildings
PROJECT IMPACT: Through the BoTo Project we have,
-Diverted 6000 PET plastic bottles and 3000kg of waste from land-fills
-Sequestered 25000kg of CO2 = CO2 sequestered by 1000 trees/ year
-Encouraged waste segregation amongst 700 families
-Trained a construction team about innovations in green buildings
-The unique 'BoTo Assembly Method' was developed using a combination of bamboo, wire-mesh, mud, fibre waste to build with the Ecobricks.
-The bamboo and wire-mesh superstructure was constructed first. Ecobricks were then added to the wall panels. The Ecobricks were then mud-plastered to avoid sun-exposure and prevent plastic photodegradation
-The final cabin has a mix of upcycled, recycled and natural materials. We have used natural bamboo framework, mud-plastered walls and stone floor; the upcycled Ecobrick wall panels and the recycled tetrapack roofing sheets. This helped us keep a low carbon footprint.
-The cabin is now being used by the dedicated security guards protecting this football ground!
HUB ACTIVITIES:
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Workshops were conducted with 50 schools to result in 700 children making 6000 ecobricks
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Quality checks were conducted by the hub to select the top 300 ecobricks to build a security cabin
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The unique 'BoTo Assembly Method' was developed using a combination of bamboo, wire-mesh, mud, fibre waste to build a structure with the Ecobricks
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The final cabin has a mix of upcycled, recycled and natural materials which result in an overall low carbon footprint
COLLABORATORS
Public sector (local government); Private partners (Pepsi); NGOs (to create eco-brick and deliver sessions); Schools (with teachers and children who helped create the Ecobricks); Volunteers (Shapers, Versoa beach clean-up drive volunteers); Architects/ designers and contractors (who helped build the Security Cabin)
Short term goal : To reduce plastic waste in the city and to create a usable cabin space with ecobricks for security guards.
Long term Goal : To set this structure as an example for more structures in Mumbai and other cities. All details available at https://gsmumbaihub.wixsite.com/boto