Plastic Bottle Village – Recycling Plastic Bottles With Eco-Homes in Panama

This technique of eco-building recycles large quantities of plastic bottles (Plastic Bottle Village)

A whole village partly made of plastic bottles. Plastic Bottle Village is a real novelty and situated in Bocas Del Toro, a province in Panama. The initiators aim to construct around 120 homes/lots as well as a small boutique. An additional eco-lodge will deal with the community’s fruit, vegetable, and herb garden. Green zones, that will house a yoga exercise pavilion, hiking trails, and small manicured mini-parks for barbecues, and outdoor gatherings are also envisaged. The first construction phase started end of 2015.

Plastic Bottle Village with a total area of about 336,000m²

During our life, we leave behind thousands of plastic bottles. They harm fishes and birds and will never get fully degraded by the environment. “We will be living inside what we have consumed and thrown away, and will re-construct those discarded materials into modern, stylish and quality built residencies.” Robert Bezeau says.

Another objective of Plastic Bottle Village is the formation of an education center that will train individuals how to create a building system that reuses plastic bottles as a basic construction material. Furthermore, the Plastic Bottle Village team tries to push the project by raising funds on GoFundMe. With the crowdfunding campaign they aim to finance an education center, dormitories, and a cafeteria.

Due to the physical property of air, the empty bottles are an appropriate insulator. Air is a poor heat conductor. According to the creator, the houses are about 17°C cooler compared to common wood or concrete structures. This will help to reduce energy costs. Furthermore, the homes are earthquake-proof.