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.


MKšŸ’š


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

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The life of ... an alcon blue butterfly

Hi everyone, Today we are going to be looking into the life of an alcon blue butterfly (Phengaris alcon). After mating, the females lay their eggs on marsh gentian, a blue-coloured wildflower. The eggs can only be laid on these flowers, as this is what the newly hatched caterpillars will eat. Although in some alp regions, they can also be found on willow gentians, a close relative of the marsh gentian. Once the caterpillars have hatched from the eggs, their main predator and danger are the ants that swarm below. But high on their plant homes, the caterpillars are safe. However, this isn't where the alcon blue caterpillars are going to stay forever. Eventually, they drop down to the ground using silk strings. With no protection, they are soon dragged off by the ants. The most amazing part is, the alcon blue caterpillars give off the same scent and chemicals as the ant larvae. So the ants take the caterpillars back to their brood chamber, wher...

Announcement: GalƔpagos Islands

Coral reefs

Hello! We would love to introduce you to the topic of coral reefs and especially coral reef bleaching, as it is a greatly ignored but certainly significant topic. Have fun! 5 coral reef facts 1. The Great Barrier Reef is the largest living structure on the planet and is 2300 km long! 2. Less than 0.1% of the world's ocean surface is covered in coral reefs. 3. At least 25% of all marine animals live there. 4. Coral reefs are often known as the rainforests of the ocean. 5. In 1 square kilometre of coral reef, up to 35 tons of fish can be 'produced'. The 5 biggest coral reefs in the world 1. Great Barrier Reef (near Australia) 2. Red Sea Coral Reef (near Egypt, Israel and Djibouti) 3. New Caledonia Reef (Pacific Ocean near New Caledonia) 4. The Mesoamerican Barrier Reef (near Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Honduras) 5. Florida Reef (Atlantic Ocean/Gulf of Mexico near Florida) What is coral? Coral is actually made up of small anim...

November Top Tips | sustainable activities and hobbies

Hello everyone, So this week, we are going to be talking about sustainable free time activities. This area can quite big when it comes to environmental impact, so here are some things that you can do in your free time, that are more sustainable. 1. Reading So reading is one of our favourite things to do. However, books are made of paper and the paper industry isn't great. Some ways you can get around this is by reading online (for example, on a kindle), or through borrowing books from a library or using book boxes. If there aren't any in your area then at least try to support independent bookshops! 2. Running If you love being active then this one is for you. Running is probably one of the most sustainable forms of sport. All you need are some running shoes and somewhere to run. There is obviously more high-tech gear but that isn't really necessary if it's just a hobby. 3. Gardening If you've got a small area of land o...

Amazon Rainforest series - part 3: human involvement

Hi everyone, This is the last post in the amazon rainforest mini series. It's all about how humans have affected the amazon rainforest. Unfortunately, most human impact on the amazon is negative. The Amazon rainforest faces many threats, but the main one is fire. You may think that the fires in the amazon are wildfires or created by accident, but that is not true. All over the amazon, farmers are setting fire to the trees and foliage. For only one reason, to clear land for farming. But this is a disaster. Last month, the amazon rainforest reached its tipping point . Due to the fires, it is now releasing more CO2 than it is absorbing. To feed our growing population, we are killing countless species. Species, that in some cases, we haven't even discovered yet. If the amazon rainforest goes, climate change will become pretty much unstoppable. But it isn't only animals and plants that are suffering. Do you remember all those tribe...

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 ...

Photosynthesis: what is it and how is it linked to climate change?

Hi Everyone! Welcome to another post, this time about photosynthesis! This is an extremely important process that I've learnt a lot about in school and lots of you may know about it but this will hopefully refresh your memory! What is it? Photosynthesis is a natural process that takes place in a leaf. It turns carbon dioxide into oxygen, which is so important for climate change, but more on that later! This enables the leaf to get energy. The equation is as follows: Carbon Dioxide + Water ~> Glucose + Oxygen           CO₂                +  H ₂O    ~>   C ₆H₁₂O₆  +      O₂ It's hard to write it on here but to make the glucose and oxygen you need sunlight and chlorophyll. How does it happen? To understand this, you need to know a little about the structure of the cross-section of a leaf. Just type 'cross section of ...

A new mini series about...HOUSE PLANTS!

Hi Everyone! I am so excited to be sharing this because we are starting a new series of posts. There won't be a schedule and there is no specific format for these posts or number of posts in total, we will just be sharing lots of house plant related content! You can expect to see: -a meet and greet with my house plants -tips on how to look after them -fun and rather weird facts -house plants you probably didn't know existed & MORE! We hope you are excited to see some slightly different content on here, it won't replace any existing series or posts!  We'll be back very soon with our first house plant post!  But first we need your help. We need a name for this series so if you have any ideas then either put them in the comments or email us on contact.greenworldblog@gmail.com. Thank you! Image: This image is owned by a blog editor

Pollination

Hello everyone, Today we're talking about pollination and its importance in the world's ecosystems.  First a bit of basic plant biology. To reproduce most plants do have a differentiation into male and female, but not in the same way that we see in mammals. Both male and female reproductive organs can be found on the same plant, although not in the same place. Male gametes are produced in the stamens and are then found in pollen. On the other hand, female reproductive organs are called pistils and egg cells are found in the ovule (normally in the flower heads). Pollination describes the process of transporting the pollen to the egg cells, making it an essential part of the reproduction of plants. Nearly all seed plants worldwide require pollination to reproduce. Cone bearing trees also need pollination.  Pollination is almost always assisted by other organisms such as insects, birds and mammals to transport the pollen. In some species wind ...

June Top Tips | Fast Fashion and Consumerism

Happy June everyone! This month you'll get introduced to the topic of fast fashion. It is a big thing, not only because of environmental reasons but also touches on topics such as child labour and exploitation. We know this sounds pretty grave once again, but here is some good news (surprise, surprise!): You can do something! Read on to learn about what fast fashion is, where the problems are and what you can do better. 1) What is fast fashion?! Fast fashion is a term for the ever-changing demand and supply loop of the clothing industry. Every season people want to wear different things, and different clothes are in style. That leads to people buying clothes, wearing them as long as everyone else thinks they're great and then jumping to the next wave of clothes. The demand of the masses changes quickly and the clothing industry has to react just a step ahead of them to make money. The goal is to produce the wanted clothes as quickly, as chea...