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Trash Photos XII: ¡Viva la Botella!
By Keith R | July 23, 2007
Topics: "Trash Photos" Series, Waste & Recycling | 7 Comments »
(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Loading...“¡Viva la Botella!” was the title of a brief e-mail reply sent to me recently by Andreas Froese, the man behind the construction projects utilizing used PET bottles and tire rims in Honduras I profiled some months ago, and author of the companion guest post (in Spanish) to that profile”Como tener éxito trabajando con ‘basura’ en Latinoamérica“.
I’ve tried to keep in touch with Andreas over the months as he’s taken his ideas on the road, first to Colombia and now in Bolivia. I recently wrote him, noting that those posts are two of the most popular here on The Temas Blog, and asking if he could update the Blog’s readers on his current projects.
While too busy right now to write it all up, he did send along a ton of photos about his Bolivian project using both used glass bottles and used PET bottles to construct buildings. I honestly don’t know all the details behind them yet — where in Bolivia this is being undertaken, what group is working with him there, and how many projects of what scale are underway. But since people find the pictures of his work so fascinating, I thought I’d go ahead and share them as part of my “Trash Photos” series. Perhaps with some comments/questions from us, he can respond and flesh out some of the details of what we’re seeing. [Mi primer pregunta, Andreas, sería ¿porque esta vez está utilizando botellas de vidro en vez de solamente las botellas de PET?]
All photos shown in this post are property of Andreas and his company Eco-tec, used with his kind permission. Click on each thumbnail to see a larger version.
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Tags: Bolivia, Colombia, construction, Eco-tec, glass bottles, PET bottles
July 23rd, 2007 at 12:19
Great photos. I am so excited to see more about this project. If Andreas gets back to you, please make sure to get some of the details such as cost and durability. In addition, ask him to consider posting more of the details to Appropedia, where his project would go great with projects such as Tire shingles and a Strawbale Greenhouse. Thanks for the excellent blog and great trash photos.
July 23rd, 2007 at 12:40
Thanks for your kind remarks and welcome to The Temas Blog. BTW, I noted that you left out the link for tire shingles in your comment, so I took the liberty of adding it while in the moderation queue. Hope you don’t mind.
If you are interested in what Andreas is doing in Bolivia, check out his Honduran project and his essay. They and the comments sections discuss such issues as durability and cost in response to readers’ questions. Andreas may not have lots of time to write essays or stories, but he does pretty faithfully respond to questions, albeit in Spanish (but I am happy to translate to English if needed).
Thanks much for alerting me to Appropedia, a really interesting site. It seems to me that our sites might have some common interests, synergies we can explore. Perhaps someone from Appropedia would consider guest blogging or cross-posting on a project or projects involving Latin America or the Caribbean? If so, let me know. The Temas Blog welcomes guest blogs (as long as they are not one huge hunk of spam! 😉 )
Best Regards,
Keith
July 24th, 2007 at 9:54
¿Que de la durabilidad y costo relativo del proyecto boliviano?
Bueno no hay mucho diferencias entre centroamerica y america sur claro lo mas caro el cemento lo mas competitivo somos nosotros porque como mezcla principal uso tierra con algo de barro. Por metro cuadrado construido calculo entre 30 hasta 50 U$ sin sumir la costo de la consultoría porque ya sabes estoy enseñando esta técnica y no construye es todo autoconstruccion!! Los costos tradicionales van en 80-150 U$
¿donde en Bolivia y con cual grupo o organización esta trabajando en este proyecto? ¿porque esta utilizando vidrio en este proyecto y no solamente PET (vidrio rompe mas fácilmente y pesa mas)?
Este proyecto no fue apoyado por instituciones puro iniciativa privada.
Mira en las fotos salen dos casas una con vidrio este casa comenzo la Dr. Ingrid Vaca Diez una chica haciendo algo por el mundo y las pobres y ella uso vidrio porque tiene amigos que tienen un hotel y yo solo mejoro so técnica y bajando la cantidad de cemento. La otra casa inicio con unos 4 niños sin padres y en este si solo botellas plásticas.
Saludos, Andreas
July 26th, 2007 at 0:40
Andreas: Muchos gracias para tu clarificacion. Trabajo mucho con tierra, y a veces tierra y vidrio o otra cosas reciclados. Pero tengo ganas a trabajar con PET en la futura. Disfruta tu buen trabaja.
Keith: Thank you for adding the link. I agree that we have overlap in which we should persue collaboration. How do you feel about short blog entries that are written for your audience, but are really just shortened versions of Appropedia pages such as La lagrima purificadora – Small Scale Graywater in Ecuador? I added you to our short section on relevant blogs. But we should consider a stronger collaboration. Maybe you could add, or have one of our porters, add one (or some) of your project(s) to Appropedia. We would of course have links back to the Temas Blog. Let me know what you think.
Some of my students recently contacted you about grid-intertie PV in Mexico. Thank you for your thoughtful reply.
-Lonny
July 26th, 2007 at 1:32
Lonny,
I was happy to help Melanie. It was not a difficult question for me to handle since for much of the relevant legislation/regulation, I either have it on hand or know how to get it quickly. That’s part of what Temas is about.
I am open to cross-postings/guest posts from you folks based on your Appropedia work, as long as it involves Latin America and the Caribbean in some way or can be readily applied thereto (I have to stay true to the theme of this Blog!). All such posts can include link-backs to the relevant Appropedia entries.
Likewise if you wish to use some of the Temas Blog materials on Appropedia, as long the source is acknowledged and a link provided.
Many thanks for the link. At present on The Temas Blog I only have links for other blogs, not wikis or NGOs. Maybe I need to rethink/revisit that. I do, however, have such links on the main Temas site and I’ll add Appropedia there for now, at least.
Best Regards,
Keith
July 20th, 2008 at 10:24
Hello,
I know Andreas from Germany and I am suprised and happy to see him on your photos. He lived for more than three years at our place. If you are in any contact with him, could you please send him greetings from my mother, my brother Peter and me. We would be happy, if he contact us via internet.
Thank you very much for your photos,
Your Elisabeth
July 26th, 2008 at 14:03
Hola Elisabeth
Das ist ja nett von dir zu horen
schreib mal: andreasfroese@yahoo.com
grusse an alle
Andreas