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An island made of water bottles
- Thread starter Nika
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imdeafsowhat
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- Aug 22, 2008
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Recycle can be used to make anything.
Transcription:
Cast aways like Robinson Crousseau and even Tom Hanks didn't intend on living on a deserted island. But this next guy did. And when he couldn't find an island to call his own, he created an unbelievable floating paradise out of these. This man has given up his job, his family, and all of his material possessions to run away and live on a secluded island paradise. A paradise made from plastic bottles. "It's taken me two and a half years from the beginning, from the first bottle collection, to get to this point now. And I'm quite happy with the process." It was over two years ago Richie Sallow gave up his job as a carpenter and moved to Mexico in search of a simpler life. He made his way to the sandy shore of Cancun. He started collecting bottles for cash--and that's when he came up with an unbelievable idea--to build himself an island he could claim as his own. "The collecting of the bottles I started by hand first, just going around the, the local town picking them up." "Have a great day." "Cheers." "Cheers." "Thanks." This floating island is the length of a professional tennis court. Richie gathered thousands of bottles and started stuffing them in fish nets to create the foundation. "Well this is the sum total of three years' work. It took me the first six months just to get a base which was about--that's about fifteen meters across, and twenty meters long. It took me about four months to get a base of around seven or eight meters, then I started putting plants on." Richie placed bamboo and plywood on top of a foundation of bottles, paddling back and forth, over and over, every day, scooping sand off the shore, to build his own private beach. But the biggest challenge was trying to grow plants on the plastic bottle barge. "These are mangroves that were planted just a few months ago and they're growing really really well, you can feel how--these are mangroves that were planted like four or five months ago--they've got stems on them now like trees--palm trees. This will be a lemon tree." Today this real life survivor is totally self-sufficient, growing bananas, coconuts, spinach, almonds and tomatoes on his island. He's even built a solar cooker, collects rain to water the plants, and even made a washing machine out of a plastic drum that roles in the waves. This is one island castaway who never needs to leave. But if the truth be told, Richie is not alone on this island. "We have quite a few inhabitants on the island at the moment. It's me, my cat, Bonita, and my second cat, Easy. The little dog, Rainbow, two chickens, Brownie and Blackie, and the duck, the heart of the island, Corazon." This bobbing island of bottles has proven to be quite sea-worthy as well, surviving two hurricanes and several tropical storms. And now even the Mexican government wants to recognize the private paradise, declaring the island as Mexican soil for tourists to visit. But Richie has another idea for his paradise. Every day he adds bottles to make his island bigger. His goal is to one day float out to sea and eventually drift around the world on the island he built with his own two hands. "One day, we will sail out on the ocean, and become a small floating country."