Updated: April 7, 2011, 3:30 p.m. ET
Discarded Plastic Bottles Put to New Use in Schools
A project to build a school using empty plastic bottles brought together a community in Guatemala. The idea now is spreading to other sites.
http://newshour.s3.amazonaws.com.nyud.net:8090/photos/2011/04/07/photo6_edit_video_embed.jpgBY STELLA CLINGMON
When former Peace Corps volunteer Laura Kutner was asked to help find funding to finish constructing two classrooms in the elementary school where she worked in Guatemala, she decided to use -- or rather reuse -- a common piece of trash.
"I was hanging out with my students at recess," Kutner recalled, "and I realized the bottle of soda I was drinking was the exact width of the metal frames that made up the existing walls."
She used what was known in environment-friendly circles as "eco-blocks" -- plastic bottles stuffed with inorganic trash -- and encased them in chicken wire. Once covered in a few layers of cement, the bottles provided cost-efficient and eco-friendly insulation for the classroom's walls.
"They stay cooler than traditionally built schools and have even inspired new community initiatives to find everyday solutions to trash management," Kutner said.
More:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/world/jan-june11/bottles_04-07.html