Stacking glass bottles with adobe mortar is an economical way to recycle bottles and create retainer walls to curb soil erosion. In an afternoon, we built this 3 bottle high, 9 1/3 foot retaining wall to stop erosion on a steep hill and create a terrace for planting.
I've been designing a One Earth Bottle Home and brainstorming how to make it sustainable using renewable energy for years.
Our family started collecting bottles when our four children were still at home and I couldn't bear to see all the glass bottles not be recylcled. We've been gathering bottles for fover 17 years, so we now have a collection of thousands of bottles sorted into color and size.
This bottle wall is made of clear, green and cobalt blue glass bottles in honor of our daughter who was an afficiando of mineral water in her teens.
We dug a shallow trench a little wider than the length of the bottles parallel to the contour of the slope between two pinon trees. Then we put down a loose layer of small flat rocks, which we covered with a layer of gravel dug from the arroyo. Then we spread a layer of fine sand from arroyo, smoothed it and placed the first row of bottles alternating top to bottom. Tip - point open ends of bottle slightly downward to avoid water, bugs and algae getting inside. We forgot on this wall, but will do it on the next wall. Make sure bottles are placed on an even plane. Mix adobe mud mortar in pit or wheelbarrow. Combine 50-70% sand dug from center of arroyo with 30-40% clay mud dug from edges of arroyo and some straw and/or crushed pottery shards or small stones and add water until mud is good consistency to adhere and pour slowly. (Note - we should have added more water to adobe mix.)
If the earth at your place not suitable for making adobe, you can substitute concrete. But I like the idea of using the earth itself like the indigenous people in the southwest have done for millenia. Using earth from your own land is ideal. You eliminate energy and greenhouse gases spent to bring in store bought materials. To test if your earth will work, fill up a clear glass jar with dirt, cover with water, shake and leave overnight. The soil, clay and sand will separate out and if your sample has 30-40% clay, it should work. Using adobe from your own land is simple and you can't beat the price.
This bottle wall is a good first try. We may put on another layer of mud and a cap of flat rock to protect the adobe from rain. It is rough, but will make a good retainer wall and taught us what we need to do to make stronger walls that will eventually be used to build the sauna and the One Earth Bottle Home prototype.
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Photos, text and bottle wall by Charleen Touchette 2010
www.OneEarthBlog.Blogspot.com
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