Foreign Property News | Posted by Shwe Zin Win
If you’ve ever wanted a private island all to yourself but don’t have the budget to buy one in the Bahamas, a British gentleman has come up with the perfect solution. Meet Richart Sowa, a British artist and carpenter who came up with the idea of creating his own floating island out of 150,000 recycled PET plastic bottles.
This island is real, and right now it’s a floating tropical paradise in the middle of the Caribbean, on Isla Mujeres. At first glance, it looks natural… But it’s made out of trash. It has the best of both worlds: a private island created from trash that would otherwise have been thrown into a landfill or left floating adrift. Now these bottles are still floating, but they’re moored and put to good use as building material.
Also known as Spiral Island II, it is not just an eccentricity, but a pioneering and practical model of self-sufficiency and waste management. If you are one of those people who drinks bottled water no matter what, you might be interested in creating your own floating natural paradise. Joking aside, Richard has been concerned about ocean pollution for decades. Back in 1977, he had the vision of a floating island. He is neither the first nor the last: the Aztecs had the ancient practice of creating chinampas, which were artificial islands that could be cultivated. These were small plots of very fertile land surrounded by water. They cultivated them very productively, maintaining the quality of the soil and the degree of moisture.
Joyxee Island is the second island created by Richart Sowa. The first was Spiral Island I, which he built in 1998 near Cancun. He used no less than 250,000 bottles. However, this poor island was destroyed by Hurricane Emily in 2005. Far from giving up, he committed himself to building a more resistant version.
Even though bottled water is everywhere, getting hold of 150,000 plastic PET bottles is no easy task. It took a continuous individual effort to collect containers from trash, beaches, and community donations on the coast of Mexico where he lives. For better or worse, plastic bottles are durable; on average, they take 450 years to decompose. This makes them very resistant containers and a fairly abundant building material.
Building the raft/island was simple. First, he had to make sure that all the bottles were properly sealed. He packed them into recycled fruit nets to create floating modules. He then joined these modules under a wooden structure made from pallets and plywood. Once he had that base, he began to cover it with layers of sand and soil. This gives the island an organic look. It looks real… until you realize it’s moving.
Another essential point is the use of mangrove roots. The roots of this type of vegetation grow through the bases of bottles and mesh, organically binding the entire structure together. Thanks to the mangroves that have been planted, this island is more solid and resistant to the bottles. Even if a hurricane comes, it will not be so easy for the entire artificial construction to be destroyed.
The floating island does not just have a little bit of vegetation and that’s it. It has a two-story house, an organic garden, a solar energy system, and, of course, rainwater collection for personal use and crops. The little waste they have, such as cans or glass, is used to expand or raise the edges of the island. Nothing goes to the trash or the landfill. Its creator considers it a work of art in constant progress.
For now, Richard Sowa has set out to export this island concept as a model of low-cost sustainable housing.
Ref: Goodbye to useless plastic – a man creates a 1,000-square-meter artificial island using 150,000 recycled PET bottles (eladelantado)
