Step 3: Ecobricks

While we are taking small steps to change our habits, there is still a lot of single use plastic coming into our house. In any case, even if we could completely eliminate single use plastic from our own shopping, we cannot control what others bring into our house e.g. sweets for the kids, gifts, items from school etc. The biggest issue we feel with single use plastic is that because it cannot be recycled easily, it ends up in the environment; in our seas, in our rivers, on our streets. Not only does it look horrible, it impacts on wildlife. I have seen so many photos of marine life ingesting plastic or choking because of plastic wrapped around its neck. My son adores animals. He cries when he sees these images. He is only 4 years old and he knows instinctively that it is wrong.

So, with the above in mind we started to make our own Ecobricks.

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Ecobricks:

I had learned about Ecobricks via a Zero Waste Group I am a member of on Facebook. It seemed like a good idea so I googled it to see whether it was a thing here in Ireland. I discovered that Seal Rescue Ireland accept Ecobricks made from 1.75 & 2 litre soda bottles and turn them into furniture, thereby helping to keep single use plastic out of the natural environment AND bring awareness to people on how much single use plastic they are consuming.

We don't drink fizzy drinks in our house. Other than milk cartons, the only plastic bottles we have coming into our house are orange juice bottles and these are only 1 litre. I love to make things, as do the kids, so I decided I would use the 1 litre bottles to make some Ecobricks and then we could make something out of them ourselves. I have an idea for making a small side table with 3 or 4 ecobricks as legs. We are still making our ecobricks so watch this space for the final result :)

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Making a brick:

• Wash and dry single use plastics. [Obviously this step means that there is more work involved than just throwing the plastic in the bin. Figure out how best to manage this in your home. Maybe you would prefer to gather it all up in a box and then wash your single use plastics in one sitting, perhaps once a week. We have items that we wash in the sink every night such as the kids lunchboxes or our beeswax sandwich wraps so we just wash any plastics we have used that day each evening and air dry alongside our washing up.]

• Put plastic into a rigid 1.75 or 2 L plastic bottle e.g. 2 L coke bottle.

• Pack the plastic down into the bottle with a long stick.

• When full, bring to Seal Rescue Ireland for assessment. It needs to meet a certain density to be accepted. It basically needs to be compacted until you cannot push the outside of the bottle in.

If you don't live near Seal Rescue Ireland you could:

• Collect your Ecobricks, or collect with a number of people, and make the journey once you have a good few together.

• Contact Seal Rescue Ireland and find out if they are doing any events near you.

• Make something with your own Ecobricks!!

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Conclusion:

Although, we are still in the process of making our Ecobricks, doing so has already had the following positive effects on our family:

• It has made us more aware of how much single use plastic we bring into our house. Now if we are in a shop, where possible, we will look for an alternative to buying a product with single use plastic. Even the kids are much more aware and are less likely to ask for a chocolate bar just because it has plastic on it.

• It has reduced the amount of waste going into our black bins. Less waste means less black bin lifts which means more money in our pocket :)

• It has made us all think about how we can put things to a different use as we use our imaginations to think about how we are going to make our Ecobrick table :)

Happy Ecobricking :)

*** UPDATE: Since starting our Ecobricks, we have more than halved the amount of waste going into our black bin. Not only do we feel better for not polluting our environment with these plastics but we are saving money as half the rubbish means half the bin lifts!! ***

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Resources:

Seal Rescue Ireland - http://www.sealrescueireland.org/blog/ecobricks