Come, take a seat on a PET bench

Four volunteers from Goa, recently built a bench and table at the Calangute Church from PET bottles.

Panaji:  With a view to tackle the issue of discarded PET bottles in the state, Delhi-based Samarpan Foundation has chosen to transform and repurpose this environmentally-harmful fallout of the beverage industry.

The organisation along with four volunteers from Goa, recently built a bench and table at the Calangute Church from PET bottles. While one-litre bottles were used for the bench, two-litre bottles were used for tables. These bottles were collected from nearby shacks and hotels.

"It took us three days to make the bench and it was a learning experience for everyone. Building something like this is not only a lesson in waste management, but also in structure durability, which is something that is noteworthy," said one of the volunteers from Calangute, Lucilia Gonsalves.

"The reason PET bottles are a menace is because of their longevity. They do not degrade easily and hence pose a problem for disposal. But when the bottle is filled with waste mud and recapped, it could be used as a solid, everlasting brick," said project head, Chennai, Samarpan Foundation, Romaine San Francesco.

Instead of melting the bottles and creating a huge carbon footprint, Francesco opined that using it instead as a brick can turn a new leaf in house-building, a concept that Goa can capitalize on.

While building homes, plastering is required for strength as well as cosmetic finish. It also helps prevent direct access to flames. Since the bottles are full of mud, in case they come in contact with fire, flames will be doused.

Adding a fish net to the structure makes it resistant to earthquakes up to 9.8 on the Richter scale.

"We went through a simulated earthquake at the structural engineering research centre, a constituent of the council of scientific research (CSR) in India, to test this and realized that the structure could withstand the pressure," added Francesco.

The use of this idea in construction would resolve the state's garbage woes, both terrestrial and marine. While PET bottles from the land could be used for building homes, discarded fishing nets could be used to make them resistant.

Francesco added that this initiative could also improve the livelihood of Goa's labour force by way of cottage industry for the PET bottle project.

"Rag pickers, unemployed migrants and mining-hit workers can be made stakeholders in this project, providing these communities a chance to build their own, affordable homes," she added.

Source: Times of India