Get Packing! #Ecobricks

Environment Protection 

Plastic pollution, there is no escaping it, a man made environmental disaster and it's down to each and every one of us to take action and work towards preventing the situation getting worse and to look at ways to re-use the plastic all around us.

A quick Google search shows devastating images of thousands upon thousands of animals suffering terrible deaths and injuries due to the mess we have all created.

Ecobricks seem to be popping up all over the place, and it is well worth taking time to look at the many creations people are making from plastics that are unable to be recycled.

Ecobrick School Photograph: Nicola Vernon

Photo Source How Plastic Bottle Rubbish Is Helping To Build Schools.
Read more here Not Another Brick In The Wall


If you are not creative or have no desire to create products from your plastic waste, don't bin it!

Save me and get stuffing!

 There are many places popping up all over the world that will accept donations of ecobricks to build, homes, schools, raised beds and much, much more!

All you need to do is stuff a bottle with all the plastic you cannot recycle such as clingfilm, styrofoam, bags, straws and much more. 
Make sure it is clean and fully dry before stuffing into the bottle. It is amazing just how much you can find, and it takes no time at all to fill a bottle, and with each bottle filled, it is much less pollution choking our oceans and filling our open spaces.

If you are in the UK join this Facebook group for local ecobrick exchanges.
In Africa, check out  https://www.ecobricks.org/  it is the first site I found that introduced me to the idea after a post popping up in my facebook feed!
The site also has extensive guides, sign up to receive guides and information via email, details here! Just scroll down for links and pdf guides.

Pinterest is full of projects, DIY ideas and guides, in fact if you just search ecobricks, eco-bricks or eco bricks you will find endless guides, images and drop off points from people all over the world.
So, no excuses, get stuffing your bottles!
I would love to see your recycling projects and creations, so please pop over and share them on my facebook page, the most creative ideas will be featured on this site later.

https://zlcomms.co.uk/this-is-not-a-leaf-the-story-of-plastic-bottle-schools/

Where did ecobricks spring from?

This story starts with one elderly woman in rural Guatemala. Too poor to build her home with bricks, she decided to use the plastic trash her village was fast filling up with.

Using a twig, she started stuffing plastic trash into used water bottles. Each filled bottle became a ‘brick’, and slowly but surely, the lone woman built her home.

Susanna Heisse, a blossoming environmental activist, saw what the elderly woman was doing, and immediately realised the potential of this building technique for solving a number of challenges faced by the local community:

1. Plastic waste accumulating in open dumps, polluting “the most beautiful lake in the world”.

2. People had little understanding of the fact that plastic does not naturally break down.

3. A lack of environmental or health awareness within the community was leading to sickness and disease.

The most vital message that Susanna could put across about the plastic packaging waste? “This is not a leaf. It will not rot. It will stay here for hundreds of years. We need to do something different.” And so, in the village of San Marco La Laguna, near Lake Atitlan in Guatemala, Pura Vida Atitlan and the eco-block (sometimes called ecobrick) were born.

Source