School buildings are the most important structures we can build—but they often go unbuilt because of a lack of available materials. Abundant plastic bottles could make the difference.

Pepsi’s Plastic Bottle School Project in the Philippines



Pepsi partnered with the My Shelter Foundation to build this school house made of 9,000 plastic bottles in San Pablo, Philippines. Thousands of volunteers recruited by Pepsicollected the used bottles, helped to raise awareness of the Philippines classroom shortage and participated in building the structure. Pepsi’s clean-up campaign website, sarapmagbago.com and lots more photos here: facebook.com/pepsisarapmagbago Photo © Kristel Marie Fuentes Gonzales.



After the 9,000 bottles were collected each 1.5 and 2-litre bottle was filled with adobe (sand, clay, and water with a bit of straw, twigs or manure thrown in). This machine made the filling much easier.

Pic: 1.bp.blogspot.com Video: www.youtube.com



The filled bottles set out to dry…



The building process begins. Pic: micealiling.com



String is used to keep the bottles in place as the adobe is being applied.

Pic: micealiling.com



Ran out of caps…



A bit more cement will be applied and smoothed out.

Photo © Kristel Marie Fuentes Gonzales



Photo © Kristel Marie Fuentes Gonzales



Almost there. The roof is made of compressed tetra packs.

Photo © Kristel Marie Fuentes Gonzales



One wall is made of glass bottles.

Photo © Kristel Marie Fuentes Gonzales



The inside walls were whitewashed.

Pic: campaignbrief, bottleschoolproject.org



Photo © Kristel Marie Fuentes Gonzales

www.bottleschoolproject.org

A Plastic Bottle School in Guatemala



In Guatemala, visiting volunteers with the help of the community, build plastic bottle school houses using a construction method pioneered by non-profit Pura Vida. The first plastic bottle school in Guatemala was started by volunteers in the Peace Corps and when they ran out of resources they called on Hug It Forward, an NGO that has now helped build numerous plastic bottle schools accross Guatemala. hugitforward.com



First, the students and volunteers stuff the plastic bottles with insulating trash. Each student is asked to collect and fill at least 20 bottles. They stuff each bottle with plastic waste, such as styrofoam, snack wrappers and plastic bags – the more compacted, the sturdier the building blocks and the less garbage remaining on the streets. flickr.com



Hugitforward builds bottle schools a different way.

hugitforward.com



The stuffed bottles are tied with string to keep them in place. Pictured is the 5th Hug it Forward school, under construction in La Cereza, finished July 2010. hugitforward.com



Bottles strung to chicken wire on one side. Now the chicken wire will be placed on this side as well. flickr.com



Plastic Bottle Wall.

hugitforward.com



Students stuff waste plastic in between the bottles. flickr.com



The older students are called in for the higher work. www.flickr.com



Applying cement to the inside of the building…

Students help sift the sand, mix and then apply cement that was donated. www.flickr.com



And on the outside… Three layers of cement are applied. www.flickr.com



Neater job = better trowel…

This is the 5th Hug it Forward school, under construction in

La Cereza, finished July 2010. hugitforward.com



This school used metal frames instead of cement posts.

hugitforward.com



This one with a thatched roof. flickr.com



The final look – you would never know the main ingredient if they did not leave cutouts… flickr.com



A cutout. Just a reminder…

hugitforward.com



Outside — under construction. A bench surrounding a tree. flickr.com

How To Build A Plastic Bottle School

Bottle Construction How-to

By Laura Kutner, Peace Corps/Guatemala Source: peacecorps.gov

Make sure your community is involved and that you have a safe/approved location to build. Make sure you have a budget and enough funding. Collect and stuff bottles and gather lots of inorganic trash. Each bottle and all of the stuffing material has to be clean (rinsed in water) and dried. If anything is wet or dirty it will become moldy and start to smell. Organic trash, such as paper, cardboard, dirt, and rocks, cannot be used. Set up a frame, foundation, and roof comprised of either wood, metal or cement columns. Start putting chicken wire on the outside of the frame, then work on the inside in sections, putting in the bottles while you slowly connect the inside layer of chicken wire to the outside, securing the bottles tightly. Continue section by section, until bottles are placed, then stuff all empty leftover spaces with inorganic trash. Test the cement mixture (no limestone) to make sure it sticks. Then start placing the first layer of cement. When this dries, start a second layer. Finish with a third layer then lay the flooring. Inaugurate and celebrate!

Hug it Forward’s Bottle School Manual

“The Bottle School Manual” a step-by-step guide to building a bottle school, complete with pictures and diagrams of each stage of the construction process. bottleschools.org

Another organization working with plastic bottles in Latin America: lwhome.org

A plastic bottle latrine with composting toilet: catorcekt.wordpress.com

Hug It Forward – 3 Months of filming compressed into a 3 minute video. This is a good overview of the hard work, dedication, win-wins, and excitement surrounding Bottle Schools.