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Creative Ways to Upcycle Plastic Bottles

The Dangers of Plastic Waste

Plastic waste is constantly being generated on a daily basis.  But where does it all go?  Did you know that only about 9% of all global plastic is recycled? 

Unfortunately, the rest of it goes directly into our environment.  Waste goes from our houses into our oceans, rivers, or soils.  At this point in history, it is hard to go to any beach and not find plastic lying around.

The only way to solve this issue is to “turn off the tap,” and stop creating more unrecyclable plastic waste.  This means we need to stop consuming so much plastic and responsibly dispose of the plastic that we do use.

On average, one plastic bag is only used for 10 minutes.  Yet, it takes thousands of years to break down.

Even after it breaks down into smaller pieces, it never fully disappears.   It becomes microplastic, which is invisible to the human eye.  Microplastics are extremely dangerous because of their small, undetectable size.  

These microplastics can easily enter into our food chain unknowingly.  There are tons of microplastics in our ocean.  Fish and other animals cannot avoid swallowing these plastics.

Then, humans eat the fish!  This is only one way that humans consume plastic.  

The plastic waste problem gets even more dangerous when it’s combined with other man made forms of pollution.  We have dumped so many toxic chemicals into our ocean.  These toxins float in the water and look for something to latch onto.  

One of the easiest things that toxins grab onto is all the tiny bits of plastic in the water.  This means that fish are not only eating plastic, but plastic with dangerous toxins on it.  Then, humans eat the fish and the toxins.  

All of these man altered chemicals can cause cancer and other diseases.  Overall, the issue of plastic waste in our environment is very serious and harms all living things- including us!  

In my opinion, the best way to combat this problem is to simply use less plastic.  If we are not conscious consumers, it is easy to use so much plastic even in one day.    Just by taking a few simple steps in your day, you can avoid using unnecessary plastics. 

There are tons of things you can do like bringing your own takeaway containers to a place or refusing a bag. Plastic bottles may be a little harder to avoid.  

The best thing for the planet at this point is to not buy bottled water.  Ask yourself if it’s really necessary?  You can buy a reusable bottle and fill up whenever you need for free!  And it doesn’t make extra plastic bottle waste. 

If you do end up using a plastic bottle, there are some creative ways that you can upcycle them.  Even though in many countries Plastic #1 is recyclable, it requires a lot of energy and water to process. 

 The lowest carbon footprint form of disposing of bottles is to close the loop and upcycle your bottles into something useful.  

Keep reading to learn some cool ways that you can become a serious bottle upcycler! 

Making an Eco Brick Building

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My favorite way to upcycle a plastic bottle is to make an Eco Brick.  Have you ever heard of it?  An eco-brick is an excellent way of taking plastic waste and making it into something very useful. 

It is basically plastic waste stuffed tightly into a plastic bottle. Once it is fully packed, this bottle can be used as a brick to build buildings. In fact, it is 20x stronger than a regular brick!  

kids filling plastic bottles

You can use these bricks to build a house, school, garden beds, a retaining wall, or anything that you could use bricks for!

One of the biggest projects that I have used them for was to build the first Eco-Brick school in Viet Nam.  We collected over 6,000 500ml finished plastic bottle bricks to construct a school.  It is now finished, and class is in session! 

eco brick building

If you do not have a large project to work on, you can build something small like a bench for your garden or patio.   These bricks can be connected using cement or cob.  Cob is a traditional natural building method that uses clay, sand, and straw.

One eco brick can hold 200 grams of soft plastic waste! So this is a great way to clean up plastic out of our environment and create a useful building material. I have a simple eco brick station at my house.

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Whenever I have soft plastic waste, I stuff it directly into a bottle. You can use any sized bottle to make your brick.  

It is ready when you can step on the bottle brick and it doesn’t crush.  It will feel very strong.

Let’s continue exploring other ways you can upcycle a plastic bottle! 

Make a Self-Watering Planter

Do you like to grow small plants, but do not have time to take a lot of care of them?  Well, you could make a self-watering planter from a plastic bottle!

This is basically a bottle that is cut in half and then flipped upside down.  The top part of the bottle is what holds the soil, while the bottom part holds the water.  

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Soil naturally wicks water and will only take up the exact amount that it needs.  So with the self-watering planter, the top of the plastic bottle is sitting in water.  This allows your plant to water itself. 

You need to punch a few holes in the top half of the bottle near the mouthpiece.  This will provide aeration for the soil.

One thing to keep in mind is that plastic chemicals can leach from the bottle and get into your soil.  However, this only happens when the bottle exceeds a certain temperature.  If your bottle is exposed to 120 degrees Fahrenheit (50C) it will start to leech at dangerous levels.

The best thing to do to avoid this problem is to keep your bottles out of the strong sun.  Alternatively, if you are very concerned, use these planters to grow decorative plants rather than edibles. 

Make a Watering Can 

Another thing you can do with any size water bottle is to make a watering container. If you do this, you won’t have to buy a new plastic water container.  

It is really easy to make.  Simply poke holes in the cap of the water bottle and around the top curved part where it bottlenecks.  You can customize the holes and locations so that it works for your watering needs.  

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To make the holes, you can use a sharp knife and cut directly into the bottles.  I like using this method to create custom watering cans for my garden. 

It also is convenient to make multiple watering containers for different things for my garden.  One container is for my compost tea, one is for my natural pesticides, and any other liquid things I need.

Reducing Your Plastic Waste 

We have given you three different ways to creatively upcycle plastic bottles.  These methods provide you with useful tools for daily permaculture life.  Although there are ways to reuse our plastic bottles, the best thing for the planet is to reduce our plastic consumption.

There are so many times in the day when we are handed unnecessary plastic.  If you can be aware of this, you can refuse it as much as possible.  Take the time to think if there is another way to carry an item that doesn’t require plastic.  

One of the best ways to reduce your plastic consumption is to carry reusable bags and containers.  Of course, in this day and age, plastic is hard to avoid.  Unless you have the right supply chains set up, it is nearly impossible not to consume.

So do not put too much pressure on yourself, and use small and steady solutions to cut out plastic from your life where you don’t need it.  If you do consume though, it is best to dispose of it in a closed-loop system rather than let it enter into our environment.  

I hope you give these methods a try and enjoy the process. Eco-bricking can be a staple in any sustainable waste management plan.  Think of how much plastic you will prevent from going into our beautiful waterways. 

Even though it takes time, protecting our Earth is worth it.  After all, our lives depend on it, right? 

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