http://www.inspirationgreen.com/plastic-bottle-homes.html

Around the world, people are employing plastic and glass bottles as building blocks. source: http://www.inspirationgreen.com/plastic-bottle-homes.html

All over the world, people have begun to look at waste as materials. The method is currently being used by several organizations and individuals alike, including Eco-Tech

A man in Sabon Yelwa, Nigeria builds a wall with "bottle bricks."

For an area of the world, where housing is expensive and waste is plentiful, this clever building method may be the solution. First, it simplifies the building materials - bricks are labor intensive to make and this method only requires filling a bottle with sand. Secondly, it takes an item that would normally be discarded and gives it new life.

Why This is Important:

Brick building was identified as an area of difficulty, and a time consuming, water consuming and labor intensive activity. With trash and bottles being far too common in Longido, this may present an opportunity to solve both the brick building and waste problem. When building homes, this could be used and redesigned to suit the cultural context in Longido. 
This innovative building material can be employed in many areas beyond house building. It could be used in building any other structures including community spaces, furniture, playgrounds, garden beds & agricultural planters, and could potentially be used for water reservoirs. This method is a great source of inspiration for many different topics within the scope of our project.

Sources:

Abubakar, A. (2011) Plastic bottles solve Nigeria's housing problem. PHY.ORG. Retrieved September 9, 2014. From: http://phys.org/news/2011-11-plastic-bottles-nigeria-housing-problem.html