Walls of Waste

San Marcos on the shores of Lake Atitlan is home to a crafty lady, Susana Heisse, who turns plastic bottles into bricks. Her organization, Pura Vida Atitlan, stuffs plastic bottles tightly with dry, plastic waste (wrappers and bags), and then uses the resulting material for construction. I am not so sure of the structural integrity of this process, but what an interesting concept as a way to transform plastic materials into a building material... especially in a rural community, without waste management infructures, in a low-tech process. I especially like that Susana´s group has been doing waste audits every two years to monitor the recycling rates of her community. Yeah data.

The photo is of a demonstration wall, with a hole in the plaster so you can see the steel frame, plastic bottle-and-bag filling, and coated walls. The wall is then painted with an information mural.