Tons of plastic are being thrown away everyday and aren't being recycled. Also, of all the waste in the ocean, 80% are plastics (IUCN, 2021). With this, we came up with a boat made out of recycled materials.
It is a boat made from 319 pieces of 1.5L recycled PET plastic bottles with a bamboo frame. It can fit 3-4 people in getting from point a to point b, and its buoyancy can accommodate up to 600kg. It can also withstand waves up to 3 ft.
The plastic bottles were arranged in a way to make the boat have minimal hydrodynamic drag and move freely along the water. A uniform size of the bottles (1.5L) also ensured a better balance of the boat. Recycled rubber from used bike tires were used to connect the bamboo frame and a recycled net was used to contain the bottles inside the boat.
It was designed by our founder, Adem Inovejas, with the main inspiration of giving used plastic bottles another purpose. The actual build of the boat was made by the “Boys of Pacis” lead by Jaymar Reyes.
It was modeled from Sungai Watch and Madiba & Nature's plastic bottle boats, only with some modifications. The building process is similar to how “bahay kubo” is built.
Since the Philippines is a typhoon-prone country, we experience lots of flooding, especially to the coastal communities and places that are below sea level. There aren’t enough emergency boats for floods, but when used plastic bottles are collected, they could be turned into a boat that could potentially save lives in times of danger. Another purpose of this project is to give fisherfolks an alternative boat for near-shore fishing. They would be able to save gas expenses and this boat is also lightweight, being easier to bring to and fro the shore. We plan to expand this project to coastal barangays and for them to adapt this as part of their DRRM and for their fisherfolk to use and utilize. We also firmly believe that this project will be an eye opener to children and adults living in coastal communities to be more wary of their trash and to practice waste segregation and recycling
Essentially we believe that this project is like hitting three birds with one stone: first, trash in the community will be reduced, second, there would be education on recycling and trash segregation in the Barangay level, and third, an additional boat will be available for the Barangay to use.
Adaptation of this project would provide useful not only for the locals, but also for the environment.
maximum weight test
wave test
Halfway through the build
Kids even wanted to volunteer!
*Photos by Shantelle Gamponia for Project Blue Ilocos
