By Lee Koelzer | Director
Our first attempt at building with recycled glass bottles! Of course the structure was supposed to be nicely rectangular and somehow ended up as a wonky trapezoid, but we’re happy with our first building.
We received the bottles through our recycling program in Kampala getting the bottles from both individuals and restaurants. We are promoting the use of bottles instead of bricks for several reasons. The first is that the locally made bricks are destructive to the environment as they are made from top soil leaving a barren wasteland of exposed clay and rock after the soil has been used up. The three-day firing process also necessitates the chopping and burning of approximately 7 large adult trees, and releases loads of toxic fumes into the air.
Using the bottles cuts that out. They are also free of charge and are more durable than local bricks if the structure is not plastered with cement.
The downside is that as the bottles are wider than bricks, they require more cement between them. They can also be broken by children losing control of a speeding wheelbarrow, and if the bottles are uncapped and the opening facing the outside, they can pool water and be a breeding ground for mosquitoes.
The villagers are fascinated with the latrine as well. There seems to be admiration mixed with skepticism and a few people thinking we are clearly insane. At least they are learning and thinking about something new. If they ever want to build their own bottle structure, we will give them the bottles for free.
In the future, we plan to build an entire building structure from recycled bottles, but for now we are happy with our latrine.
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