Recycled With Style - A move away from Hobbit houses

An architect I believe will change the future of dwellings, recycling and self sufficientcy is Mike Reynolds.



As much as I admire Mike Reynolds and the earthship movement. I feel his houses have a real hobbit house look to them. And if there is one thing I hate about recycling its recyclers who like the hobbit house look. Though there are a few exceptions to this. The house he made for Denis weaver and the Brittany Ground House are certainly to my liking.







Recently the concept of building using garbage eg, bottles and tires has taken off in many other countries making housing affordable to many. This house movement in Bolivia has real credibility and in my opinion it is very stylish and designed with a contemporary appeal.

My Version of a Hanging Bottle Planter

Soda Bottle Hot Water

Here is yet another initiative using soda bottles,this time to heat water.
Jose Illano started building these in Brazil in 2002. With government support he has started a nation wide initiative that recycles tonnes of plastic bottles. I believe I will be building one for myself.

Soda Bottles as a Garden.

I am currently using soda bottles as hanging garden planters. I have tomatoes growing in orange juice bottles and peppers and chillies growing in the soda bottles. I will post some images soon. But for now check this guys videos he is doing pretty much the same. This is a really easy and cheap way to garden on balconies.

VAST, Re-use a Vast Range of Materials

Forever searching for reused permanent materials I stumble across Vast Pavers. Made from up to 95% recycled materials, these pavers are said to be longer lasting than concrete pavers with fly ash They will also meaningfully contribute to Stormwater Design, Regional Materials and Waste Management. http://vastpavers.com/products/composite_paver/permeable_composite_paver.php

Large Tyre Planters

As before this is a simple set of instructions on how to get the most out of old tyres. You can find old tyres anywhere really. The trash heap, abandoned in the bush or polluting the local creek. You might even know where there is a commercial stack just waiting to be used by a smart recycler.
For this project you will need star pickets as well between
4 and 6. It all depends how fussy you are about the strength of the planter.

Links To Papercrete Recipies

Papercrete is a kind of adobe mixture of cement and paper. First used in the 1920's it has become popular with eco home builders who are after light weight cement and also want to extend the amount of cement they get from one bag. I don't have a favorite recipe as such but tend to adapt as I go. Generally I like twice the amount of paper to cement. I don't care what sort of cement I use and the sand content is by following the instructions on the bag . I will sometimes add plaster just to get a smoother effect. But if your pedantic about amounts here's some links

http://www.mortarsprayer.com/papercrete/mix-papercrete/

http://www.ehow.com/how_2383788_make-papercrete.html

http://papercreteparadise.blogspot.com/2009/05/latex-cement-skirting-for-mobile-home.html