Skip to main content

Eco Bricks -Taking Upcycling to another level

Eco Bricks

Are they the key to the world's plastic pollution problem? Or at least a helpful factor if they became a permanent solution with no disadvantages? But what are they anyway? How are they useful? And how can individuals help every day? Here are some tips for everyone wanting to save plastic and help the earth.
Eco bricks are plastic bottles, filled densely with hard and soft plastic that make a bottle so hard and sturdy that they could be used to build houses. Which in fact, they are.
To make an Eco-Brick, you need a clean and dry plastic bottle, a long stick and lots of plastic. All plastic must be clean and dry, so it should be washed and dried or hung up to dry before usage. Now the bottle can be filled with layers of soft and hard plastic alternately that is pushed down with the stick to fill every corner of the bottle. That is done until the Eco-Brick is entirely stuffed with plastic and hard as a brick.
The advantage of Eco-Bricks is quite straightforward. Lots of plastic is upcycled towards a very sustainable goal that is realistic and already happening in many places all over the world. They can be made anywhere and no special materials are needed. Except for the one we have so much, it has become a major problem we find ourselves facing. In that way, we reuse plastic and contribute to building sustainable houses. The advantage of Eco-Bricks in buildings is that they most obviously do not decompose, so they are a reliable source that is sure to hold for years. If they are made well, they are really hard and do not break which means that many houses can be built for the overpopulation of the planet.

If you want to make an Eco-Bricks yourself, no problem! All you have to do is collect plastic of all sorts and cut it up into small pieces. Once again, make sure all plastic is clean and dry since you don't want the remains of food or whatever is in there to start microbiological growth. The same goes for the bottles. It would be advisable to choose one specific size of bottle you want to make each time, since all bottles have to be the same size to build a house, for example. In layers use hard and soft plastic to fill the bottle and use a stick or so to "compress" the plastic, every now and then while applying alternate layers of hard and soft plastic. Once the entire bottle is full and hard as stone it can be dropped off at a station that collects Eco-Bricks and does all the good stuff with it. Most major cities have an Eco-Brick station, and some small villages and towns run their own station.
At the bottom of the page, I will attach a link to a website that goes through the entire process in every detail and also has a map that shows where they can be dropped off. I looked through it earlier and it really is good stuff. If you have any more questions on the topic, feel free to contact us anytime! Eco-Bricks are such an easy and productive way to be helpful to the environment, please make use of your knowledge! If you do not have the time to make them yourself, share the information! Every little act counts, never forget that. There will always be people saying that it is just you, just one in a million. But the truth is, if everyone thinks like that, we get nowhere.


MK💚


Image: This image is owned by Stijn Dijkstra on pexels.com.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Photo Essay | dolphin spotting boat ride

Hi Everyone! Quite a while ago now, me and my family went on a dolphin spotting boat ride, and I've been meaning to share some photos for ages now! We saw so many dolphins very close up and we managed to get some good shots, although it can never be as magical as in person! All photos in this post were taken by me or my family. They were so close to the boat! This photo is stunning! It's under the water! Again - under the water! It was so hard to capture them jumping! This was the boat.... ...

Animals 21-25 in our '50 incredible animals' series

Hi Everyone! Here are the next five animals in our current series! We hope you learn something from this. 21. Stick insect Stick insects are masters of disguise. They look like twigs or leaves. This strange appearance makes them hard to spot when stationary. Stick insects are herbivores, feeding on leaves, and can live for up to three years. Their habitat includes most tropical and subtropical regions, but there are a few species that live in temperate areas as well. There are roughly 3 000 different stick insect species! Not much more is known about them, because they are difficult to find. The two main threats to their populations are the pet trade and people killing them so as to frame their carcasses, like butterflies. Their conservation status  ranges from critically endangered to least concern  - so basically every category that is on the list! 22. Glass frog The glass frog is, well, see through. You can literally ...

06.09.2020 Animal Of the Week: Seven-spotted Ladybird

Hello Everyone, Welcome to this week's animal of the week post. This time about the ladybird, and personally I can't wait to find out more about these creatures. Enjoy! Which ladybird we are investigating today? Today, I am telling you about the seven-spotted ladybird (Coccinella septempunctata), which is the most common ladybird in Europe. Other species include the Two Spot Ladybird and other uncommon ladybirds such as the 16 Spot and other peculiar types. Habitat The seven-spotted ladybird lives in a variety of habitats such as meadows, gardens and hedgerows. They can also be found on farmland, especially with crops such as alfalfa, clover and wheat and corn before it grows too tall. Diet The seven-spotted ladybird feeds on a range of aphid species. This is why they are often referred to as a gardener's best friend as they eat these creatures who can damage plants. They can also eat white flies and anything else that is soft-bo...

Sir David Attenborough - an incredible naturalist

Hi everyone and welcome back to Green World, Today we want to talk about one of the most inspiring naturalists of our time. It is, of course, David Attenborough. Today (08.05.2021) is his 95th birthday so we seemed it fitting to publish a post about him today. Over his lifetime, David has won more than 40 awards for his work and was named among the 100 greatest Britons in 2020. David first joined the BBC in 1952 as a producer for the Talks department which looked after all non-fiction broadcasts. Since then, he has worked on lots of different programs and documentaries such as The Life Series, which was first made in 1979. More recently, he has presented Blue Planet and Blue Planet II. The latter had the most views recorded for a single program in 2017. David also gave the Royal Institution's Christmas Lecture in 1973 on The Language of the Animals. David Attenborough is still presenting documentaries to this day. He now lives in Richmo...

The Climate Book by Greta Thunberg | review & thoughts

Hi Everyone! You may be aware that Wednesday was International Women's Day, so today I wanted to share a book review for a book written by one of the most inspiring women of our generation: Greta Thunberg. She is, of course, the legendary creator of the Fridays For Future movement and has inspired thousands of children to skip school on Fridays to protest for the climate. She recently compiled a book, simply entitled: The Climate Book. Here are my thoughts. This is a compilation of articles and essays from the best climate scientists, activists and high-profile people, which makes up, in my opinion, the climate bible . It quite literally encompasses everything you may want to know about the climate crisis, from the science, to how it affects us, what we've done and have yet to do, and so much more. This book is everything. I have not yet read the whole thing, because let me tell you, this book is HUGE. It's also of course very den...

Ozone layer

Hi everyone, What even is ozone? And the ozone layer? Where does the hole in the ozone layer come from and what does it mean? Is it dangerous? What can be done? Often the ozone-talk can be complicated and confusing, keeping an overview is hard and understanding all the problems always difficult. Let us break it down a bit for you: What is the ozone layer? We'll start with the basics: The ozone layer is part of the stratosphere, which is the second layer of the Earth's atmosphere, between 10 and 50 km above the Earth's surface and made up of protective gases. One of these protective gases is ozone. There is not much ozone in the atmosphere, only 0.3 molecule of ozone per 1 million molecules of air. This is because ozone is chemically unstable and only forms when ultra violet radiation (UV light) hits oxygen and breaks the bonds between the atoms. It fact it is so unstable that even when it has formed, it breaks down again relatively quickly. This leads to ozone turning back ...

Palm Oil

Hi everyone, Today we would like to share with you some information about palm oil.  With all the focus on climate change and plastic pollution, not many people are acting against the use of palm oil.  Workers First of all, the managers promise that the workers will have good money, but when they arrive, their passports are taken from them, therefore, meaning they are trapped. Soon they find out that they aren't paid as well as promised. They have to work long hours with no breaks, maternity leave or sick days. Some people have to spray pesticides with leaking cans and no safety gear, meaning they become ill but are still forced to work. Deforestation Many animals are losing their home because the trees are chopped down to make room for the palm trees. they are now facing extinction. Also, trees helped to slow down climate change, but without them, climate change speeds up. So this is a big problem. Help your planet! Image:...

Deforestation and why it’s a problem

Hi everyone, Welcome back to another post. Today we’ll be talking about deforestation and its impacts on our earth. Deforestation, the widespread clearance of natural forests, has been happening for thousands of years. One example is Western Europe, where, two millennia ago, 80% of the land was cloaked in dense forest cover. However, over time, a significant portion of this green expanse was sacrificed to create room for crops, livestock grazing, and as a source of fuel and building materials. Presently, a mere 34% of Western Europe retains its woodland. Today, the tropics deal with the brunt of deforestation. Activities such as mining, agriculture, road construction, and the establishment of vast cattle ranches drive the mass clearance of tropical rainforests. This results in the release of huge amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, exacerbating the global climate crisis. The consequences come in two waves: first, the reduced number of...

The life of ... a koala

Hello everyone, Today we're talking about koalas. Also known as koala bears, koalas are marsupials. So they're actually not bears. Koalas, phascolarctos cinereus , are tree dwelling and probably best known for spending most of the day sleeping. They live for up to 15 years in the wild although captive koalas generally live for longer. Koalas have a stout, gray body and a cream-coloured chest. They have a broad face, small yellow eyes and big fluffy ears. In adaptation to climbing, their feet are strong and clawed. Adult individuals in South Australia weigh 14kg and are 60-84cm big. Their Eastern cousins are considerably smaller. Koalas are found in Eastern and Southern Australia, where they live in eucalyptus trees. They feed on the leaves of these eucalyptus trees, eating up to 1.3kg a day. With a body weight of up to 14kg, this means they eat just under 10% of their body weight every single day. However, the le...

How much do you know about climate change? - Quiz

Hi Everyone and welcome back to Green World! For this week's quiz, we thought we would do one on climate change. By this point, climate change is a well known issue, however, we wanted to share some of the specific statistics, some of which are still really surprising. We hope that this is an informative post for you, and it inspires you to take a small action to reducing your own carbon footprint. Questions Roughly how much CO2 is in the atmosphere? (May 2023) a) 380 parts per million b) 400 parts per million c) 420 parts per million True or False? The last time CO2 levels were as high as they are today was 4.5 million years ago. Which summer month in 2021 had the highest temperature since records started almost 150 years ago? a) June b) July c) August True or False? Antarctica loses the same weight as Mount Everest in ice each year. How many p...