Plastic Bottle Village: The quirky tourism destination made from one million recycled bottles

One man’s war on plastic has produced the most out-there construction. Canadian-born environmentalist Robert Bezeau collected one million plastic bottles to create the Plastic Bottle Village on the island of Bocas del Toro in Panama.

A medieval-style castle is the focus of the village, which even has its own dungeon. At 14 metres tall, the castle has four levels and can be hired out by groups. For a minimum contribution of $25 per person, guests can choose to stay in either of the two guest rooms on the first floor or in the royal suite above.

A dining area and bar is found on the third level, while the fourth floor acts as a viewing room.

Holiday-makers looking for something most definitely off the beaten track can stay in the village dungeon for a “repent vacation”. The dungeon is designed as a place for vacationers to contemplate their “consumer bad-habits” and changing their buying habits.

Sustainability is the main game for Bezeau, who says he is running a cause, not a business. The Plastic Bottle Village offers families the perfect “eco sustainable education-vacation”, he says. “I hope that I make people realise what has happened to our planet and humanity with the invasion of single-use plastic packaging,” he says.

“I do hope that single use PET plastic [will] be reused in construction and in asphalt  for roads.”

Bezeau says plastic bottles can be used for home insulation, temporary disaster shelters, swimming pools and barns.

The Plastic Bottle Village is built from plastic bottles stuffed into wire mesh caging. The large cages are held strong by reinforced steel and the walls are then covered with concrete.

The building process does not involve electricity.

Bezeau says he is on a mission to reduce plastic waste by drawing the world’s attention to the many uses of plastic.

“Forty years ago, if you bought a chocolate bar and threw it out the window of your car, mother nature was able to eliminate that packaging within five years.

“Today, if you throw the same chocolate bar packaging, mother nature will need 50 years to eliminate it. If humans don’t wake up soon enough, there will be no way back within 10 years.”

But Australian designer and engineer Quentin Irvine says Bezeau’s village is something of a missed opportunity.

Irvine, who designed The Recyclable House in country Victoria, says there are better uses for plastic bottles.

“From a sustainability and recyclability point of view, it’s a bit of a shame,” he says. “There’s not many things designed in society for recycling, but a plastic bottle is. If you put it into a wall and get it all concretey and sandy, then you can’t recycle it any more.

“Once you’ve contaminated a plastic bottle, you’re making it really hard for that bottle to become another bottle or a polyester sweater because PE bottles can be made into clothing like polar fleece. They are super recyclable, but I would consider this downcycling.”

Irvine designs houses made of materials that are recyclable or biodegradable in what he calls a “cradle-to-cradle” or “closed-loop design philosophy”.

Irvine’s building is made to last. The Recyclable House in Beaufort, west of Melbourne, was completed in 2015. It’s just 140 square metres and shaves an estimated $800 off home energy bills because of its passive heating and cooling features.

Irvine is now working on a second house in nearby Creswick.

Meanwhile, Bezeau hopes to spread his trash-to-treasure message across the world, particularly in developing countries where plastic bottles are widely used.

All images are courtesy of Plastic Bottle Village