House made out of plastic bottles!

CUMILLA, Nov 11: A beautiful house is being built by using abandoned plastic bottles in Homna upazila of the district.

Shafiqul Islam, a resident of Lotia village of Homna municipality, is building a five-room house using plastic bottles. Shafiqul Islam is a traffic police constable by profession.

Every day people are coming from different upazilas to see the house. They are taking photographs of the house and sharing it in social media.

Shafiqul Islam said the house was the result of a long-term plan. He made the house by collecting abandoned plastic bottles.

Locals said the five-room house was being constructed using small and large plastic bottles of different colours. While traveling along the road next to the house, pedestrians were fascinated seeing the house.

Many people approach the house and touch it. Many may not have thought that such a strong and impressively-designed house could be built with abandoned plastic bottles.

Asked how this idea came to his mind, homeowner Shafiqul Islam said, "In 2011, I read in a national newspaper that a three-storey house was built with plastic bottles in Japan. From that point curiosity in my mind started to grow."

"Besides, houses made overseas using plastic bottles are seen through YouTube. I decided to make a home using plastic bottles. Then I started collecting abandoned plastic bottles."

Shafiqul Islam said that around 80,000 plastic bottles have been used so far to build his house. However, there are more than 20,000 abandoned plastic bottles in the backyard of the house.

He said he purchased 0.1 million discarded plastic bottles from various stores in Dhaka and Cumilla.

Along with these were bottles collected by him and his family members. It is possible to build a home using plastic bottles at 30 per cent less than the cost of a house made with brick and cement, he said.

Shafiqul Islam said the house will look more beautiful once the roof is finished. He said, earthquake will not affect the house. Also if a fire incident ever happens, the fire will not spread around.

The plastic bottle is filled with sand. During the summer, it will be cold inside of the house because of the sand inside the bottle. And the house will stay warm during the winter.

Asked about the durability of a house made using plastic bottles, Homna Upazila Engineer Zahirul Islam said, "I have heard about the house. But without seeing the house, I cannot make any comment."

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