Bird-Brained Recycling: Avian Homes from Plastic Bottles

birdhouse plastic bottle 1

What’s the easiest, most low-tech way to create something useful from a plastic bottle? There are lots of ideas, from art projects to entire buildings, but this one is refreshingly simple: creative studio Colectivo de Rainha simply used heat to mold plastic bottles into bird house shapes.

Birdhouse plastic bottle 2

While conventional recycling methods are important, since not all of the millions of discarded plastic bottles in the word can become birdhouses, this idea represents an intriguing way to turn something disposable into an object of value. The heating process makes the plastic stronger, giving it a longer life.

Birdhouse plastic bottle 3

Challenged by the Remix project and Serra de Estrela water company to transform their PET plastic bottles into a new product, Colectivo de Rainha wanted to focus on the bottling company’s environmental concerns and re-foresting campaigns. Their solution requires no extra materials, using the bottleneck as the birdhouse entrance and the handle as a perch.