Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Floating Island Made From 250,000 Recycled Plastic Bottles

Spiral Island was a floating artificial island in a lagoon near Puerto Aventuras, on the Caribbean coast of Mexico south of CancĂșn. It was built by British eco-pioneer Richart (or "Rishi") Sowa beginning in 1998; he filled nets with empty discarded plastic bottles to support a structure of plywood and bamboo, on which he poured sand and planted numerous plants, including mangroves.

The island sported a two-story house, a solar oven, a self-composting toilet, and three beaches. He used some 250,000 bottles for the 66ft (20 m) by 54 ft (16 m) structure. The mangroves were planted to help keep the island cool, and some of them rose up to 15 ft (5 m) high.

It was destroyed by Hurricane Emily in 2005. In August 2007, Sowa announced that he will rebuild Spiral Island.






Source: Wikipedia