101 Uses For a Plastic Bottle..

I live on an island off the North West of Scotland. There is not a lot here apart from moors, mountains and beaches.. Most of the beaches here are completely unspoilt. However some of the beaches due to the currents are awash with plastic that has drifted over the Atlantic. Certainly there never is a shortage of rope, welly boots, buoys and plastic bottles and other flotsam that drifts in with every tide... I started to collect flotsam from the beaches. Sometimes to recycle and sometimes for other uses...

Anyway I started doing some research regarding the uses of plastic bottles and was amazed to find them used in many versatile ways. It seems the only limit is the imagination.

Here I have posted a few images of uses I have found for plastic bottles...Just to give some ideas. If the SHTF they definitely would come in useful..

Below is an image of a Greenhouse made from plastic bottles.. Last winter whilst in Glasgow I made some of these with a gardening community group. The one we made the bottom of the bottles were cut off and they were threaded on bamboo sticks. These sections were locked onto a hard frame and the inside was lined with plastic sheeting. They are working well and a good yeild of plants was produced from them this year...



Here is an alteranitve method of doing a roof. It allows rain water to run off and light in..



Here the bottle is being used as an ambient light source. An alternative method i have seen used is putting the plastic bottle through the roof and filling it with a bleach solution. This allows the ambient light to come through the roof...



This is a fantastic idea. If plastic bottles can be used to make a bridge they can used for just about anything. I do not know where this picture was taken...



Here is a clever one I came across of how to make a broom from a plastic bottle...



and a dust pan or a pooper scooper...



A spoon... Handy in many situations..



and I saved the best for last.. I am saving plastic bottles myself to make a sea kayak,. Here are two boats made from plastic bottles...





Anyone got any other ideas.. Please add..)

While many of the ideas are cool. I think they should be collected and recycled. The reason is that these materials when heated release toxic chemicals, then rains down into the soil... for example....Here is a link that talks about the different recycling numbers on bottom of bottle or container..worth the read.

Plastic Code Meanings

Almost forgot a cracker.. The home made mosquito trap. You also need brown sugar and yeast.. Further instructions can be found on this video here...

www.youtube.com...



and the light I mentioned earlier using bleach.. Here is a picture and article on it...

Currently, millions of Filipinos live without any kind of light source at all, but a band of resourceful MIT students have begun changing that. The students found that a one liter plastic bottle filled with bleach water and installed on top of a metal roof is a surprisingly simple way to light homes that have neither electrical connectivity nor natural lighting. Read more: MIT Students Install 10,000 Revolutionary Solar Bottle Lamps in Manila Slums Life-Altering MIT Plastic Bottle Lamp – Inhabitat - Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building

inhabitat.com...

Originally posted by purplemer
Anyone got any other ideas.. Please add..)

You can also use a 2 litre plastic bottle as a kettle in a real outdoors fire.

Not joking. i didn't believe it at first until i saw it happening.

Fill the bottle with water.
Seal the bottle.
Make sure the base of the fire (ash) below the bottle is wet.
Insert the bottle into the centre of the fire.
Make sure no hot pieces of wood or ash are in physical contact with the bottle.

Wait a couple of minutes watching the edge of the bottle plastic begin to 'melt' or bend.
The water convection currents keep the bottle edge cold.

Then with a damp cloth, take the bottle and you have very hot water.

Given our cats like to claw their way around our sofa we've made a "belt" from the middle of plastic bottles so they can claw their way around but not destroy the sofa

but i'm sure i've seen them used as waterproof shoes and other parts of clothing

reply to post by Starwise


I know were you are coming from. I would rather we never used plastic bottle for anything. They are full of plasticides and hormone mimickers.. These chemicals get recycled around the drinking water and bio-accumulate in our bodies..

However since these bottles are here I think its fair to make the best of them. I will make a boat out of them when I have enough and when my boat becomes old. I will recycle the bottles.

I do not recommending heating them up or eating food from them everyday. But if needs must.. Needs must....

reply to post by Rapha


Have you tasted the water after that? The bottle doesn't catch fire but it leaches chemicals into the water. In a survival situation it would still be better to boil your water though(depending on the source), and if you have nothing else then it is a way.

reply to post by purplemer


The canoe is really cool and it seems simple to make, too bad I don't drink anything that happens to come in a plastic bottle.

reply to post by purplemer


A few years ago I ran across an article about a guy that made his own island out of plastic bottles...

Richart “Rishi” Sowa isn’t your typical homebuilder. In late 2007 he began building an island named “Joyxee Island” in the waters of Isla Mujeres near Cancun that floats on over 100,000 plastic bottles.

Since 2007 he has added to the island’s size which now boasts three beaches, two ponds and an array off off-the-grid solutions to make life on the island comfortable and sustainable. He built a washing machine on the island that cleans clothes by rolling with the waves. He cooks his food with a solar cooker and gets his water supply from a rain collection system and he generates electricity from solar panels.

On the island he grows mangroves, bananas, spinach, almonds and tomatoes. The roots of the vegetation help to strengthen the structural integrity of the island. He shares the island with his cats, dog, chickens and a duck. Richart’s goal is to “one day sail out into the ocean and become a floating country.”

from tinyhouselistings.com...

Pretty awesome!! I really like the greenhouse idea, I think I will start saving plastic bottles and maybe will be able to build one myself...I have been looking at various plans / designs for greenhouses...I really like making things out of recycled materials...thanks for sharing!

reply to post by BREWSE


Fantasitc addition. Thank You! I saw a video on this a while back and forgot about it. If its the same guy he wants one day to set his floating island free and float over the oceans. Brave man...!

Island made from floating bottles....

star and flag for not posting something stupid like how to make a bunch of weapons and kill people with a plastic bottle.

Great thread! Other uses would include making funnels out of the tops, cutting off the bottom of the bottles and putting them over early garden plants to protect them from frost. You can even boil water in a plastic bottle in a survival situation.
Too bad the video of the floating bottle island was removed, I really wanted to check that out.

When used for lights the bleach is in the bottles to kill algae and bacteria that would discolor the water.

reply to post by purplemer


I want to go to where you are...love the moody coast!

Star and lotsa flags, OP.

I am going to try the roofing, it's an absolute brilliant plan. You can also make pretty flowers out of plastic bottles.
plastic flowers
Recycling's fun!

awesome thread OP s+ f for thee

there are so many fantastic ways to turn plastic bottles into constructive devices..

you can even make a fish trap out of a plastic bottle in 30 seconds..!

www.instructables.com...

Please give me all your plastic bottles !

reply to post by 3Dplus

Id like to try the roofing also. I just wonder what the best adhesive to use would be to hold it together?

ETA : It would leak if you only stapled it together.

reply to post by kennylee


I've been thinking bout that too. Maybe heat of some sort, to melt it back together on the seam...a clothes iron? If I had one, I'd try...but I'm not the kinda person who wears ironed clothes

Here's some more ideas

Solar water heater


Houses built from plastic bottles in Africa!

Nigeria's first house built from discarded plastic bottles is proving a tourist attraction in the village of Yelwa. Hundreds of people - including government officials and traditional leaders - have been coming to see how the walls are built in the round architectural shape popular in northern Nigeria. The bottles, packed with sand, are placed on their side, one on top of the other and bound together with mud.

www.bbc.co.uk...

Indoor window farm made out of plastic bottles!

www.windowfarms.com...