The whole surface of the island is made from recycled materials.
It's got about a hundred and fifty thousand plastic bottles underneath it
My name Richart Sowa. I was a carpenter basically for about 13 years and then I
got interested in the ecology and I just love experimenting and building things
out of recycled materials.
This is something I made, a solar cooker. It just reflects the light and
slowly cooks a wonderful cake. That's been cooking for one year.
Oooh, it's good. I can fly!
So this is a little bottle boat. It's got about a thousand plastic bottles in it
and it's amazing because you never need to bail it out
and if it broken it even 10 pieces every piece will float.
But the coolest thing I ever made was my island floating on plastic bottles.
It's got about a hundred and fifty thousand plastic bottles underneath it
so it's kind of solid a little bit squidgy places.
It's a nice flexible floating surface like a big raft.
Then a house on top of that as well and trees are growing. Works great.
I started this island here in Mexico six and a half years ago
and registered as an ecological boat with the maritime officials.
So the whole surface of the island is made from recycled materials
like the old pallets here. I get a bag of bottles and I just tie them on and just cover that.
Turn it over under the water, make another one and tie the pallets
together, and then I cover it with sand. and then I plant ...this is a baby mangrove.
All of this started from tiny little mangroves. So the roots of the mangroves go
through here and weave through it all and make the island completely stronger.
Underneath corals and sea life grows.
Most countries in the world don't recycle
and the population is expanding so fast and in this way in many parts of
the world we can create more land which gives oxygen back.
Now this is a bag of trash that's not gonna float very well and I make raised beds all on the trash that doesn't float.
So here now we've got a ginger plant, a tequila plant, agave,
the hibiscus flower. Its tropical lettuce. I'm becoming slowly self-sufficient on the island.
I sustain myself from tours so I invite people over to experience
the off the grid lifestyle.
So this is my home. Come on in, welcome.
Yes we have a little kitchen. It's kind of a nice size,
you know I can just reach around get everything.
Right now with the solar panels it's enough to even cook
and this is a sink here for water, and the pipe goes
up to a tank that's collected rain from the roof and it just comes down by
gravity no pumps
So this is the compost toilet. These fresh scented leaves cover it
over and then when it gets too high I dig it out from the outside and can put
it on the garden
so it's a little soil creating factory
This is our shower.
It comes out of this the shell collected by the rain mostly
Ahhh, fresh.
Well the inside of the house is 2 levels, then there's a top view point.
Most of the fresh water comes down these red waterproof strong sheets.
Why would I buy it when it's right there?
An island floating on plastic bottles is the coolest thing I've ever made.
Director: (beautilful, I think we got it, I think your wrapped)