What started with thousands of discarded plastic bottles has turned into something much more personal for a couple in Bangladesh.Rashedul Alam and Asma Khatun, a couple from a remote village in Lalmonirhat district, have built a house almost entirely out of used plastic bottles. But this isn’t simply an experiment in recycling. The 1,700-square-foot home was built for their only son, who is differently-abled.According to a report by Prothom Alo, the couple both studied environmental science and decided to put that knowledge into practice while building their family home.The house is reportedly the first of its kind in Bangladesh.
A house made with 80,000 plastic bottles
The scale of the project is hard to miss. Rashedul and Asma say they’ve used around 80,000 plastic bottles, each filled with sand, to build the walls of the house.The home has four bedrooms, a kitchen, a dining room and two washrooms. There’s also a veranda.The bottles are held together with a mixture of sand and cement, while brick chips and iron rods form the structural framework. The doors and windows are made from steel and wood, while the roof has corrugated tin sheets.
How did they collect 80,000 bottles?
Finding enough bottles was obviously one of the biggest challenges.
The 33-year-old Rashedul said the couple bought bottles from authorities at the BSCIC industrial zone as well as local bottle sellers.Getting people to actually build the unusual house was another matter.Rashedul said it was difficult at first to convince local construction workers to take on the project. A bottle house isn’t exactly a common sight in the area, after all.But once the construction began, curiosity followed.Asma said the project started attracting wider attention after photographs of the house were shared on Facebook. Since then, people have been visiting the couple to ask about the construction process, cost and possible benefits of using bottles.
What experts say about the bottle house
The idea has also caught the attention of local officials and architecture experts.An associate professor from the architecture department of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) told Prothom Alo that bottle houses have been built in different parts of the world, but this was the first such house in Bangladesh that he had come across.He described it as an environment-friendly creation.Parvez Newaz Khan, an engineer with the Local Government Engineering Department in Kaliganj upazila, also said this type of house could cost less than conventional construction. He pointed to the possibility of further research and the need to consider whether such construction could have a role in future government policy.
More than a recycling project
For Rashedul and Asma, the house isn’t just about finding another use for plastic waste.It’s their family home. And it was built with their son in mind.What makes the project stand out is the way an everyday waste problem has been turned into a very personal building project. Thousands of bottles that might otherwise have been thrown away are now part of the walls of a house created for their family.Whether bottle construction becomes more common in Bangladesh remains to be seen. For this couple, though, the unusual home has already become a reality, one bottle at a time.
