Plastic Bottle Island
February 15, 2012 at 4:53 pm
A British man has taken home recycling to paradise by not only building his own eco-island out of plastic bottles off the coast of Mexico, but running eco-tours there too.
Artist and eco-pioneer, Richard Sowa, is a modern-day Robinson Crusoe after designing and building Spiral Island II, his own private island, out of 150,000 plastic bottles. Joysxee is around 25 meters in diameter, floating offshore at holiday hotspot Isla Mujeres.
Spiral Island I was Sowa’s first project and attracted attention from green-lovers all over the world for being the first purely recycled island. However, disaster struck and seven years after it was first created, the island was destroyed by Hurricane Emily in 2005.
Undeterred, and in the true spirit of recycling, the second floating recycled island was built with the help of like-minded, environmentally aware volunteers who helped produce an eco-haven with a house, three beaches and all mod-cons, such as a washing machine which runs off wave power. Even beautiful features such as a waterfall and river exist with the help of solar energy.
Harnessing the power of the wind, water and sun, and by creating its own balanced island ecology, Sowa does not only live a green life but a self-sufficient one as well, with fruit and vegetables grown on his island-paradise too.
Holidaymakers can pop across to this eco- island to marvel at how plastic has been turned into paradise. Future plans are to sail this eco-boat around the world, on a voyage to spread the message about recycling and how to live in an environmentally-aware way.
