Methods of using plastic bottles in a modern country house

Waste disposal is one of the most acute problems facing the owners of summer cottages, especially since the majority of summer cottage communities, in principle, are not equipped with garbage containers. Undoubtedly, paper and some of the household waste can be burned, and organic matter can be buried in the beds or sent straight to the compost pit. But what to do with all the well-known plastic bottles, which are strictly forbidden to burn in a stove or fireplace insert, and it is useless to bury them, since it will take more than one hundred years to decompose the plastic? There is only one way out - to use it for good. How to use plastic bottles on the farm will be discussed in this publication.

Related article: the necessary crafts from plastic bottles made by hand.

The use of PET containers at their summer cottage

What is a plastic container? This is, first of all, a polymer material and ready-made containers. From this angle, any summer resident with a creative vision and straight arms will be able to make a lot of useful household appliances from ordinary PET bottles, create elements of garden decor and turn empty containers into necessary things.

The main advantage of plastic containers is the lack of cost. In addition, PET is lightweight, flexible, resistant to weathering and UV radiation, and excellent processing properties. A plastic bottle filled with water can withstand enormous external pressure and can act as a heat accumulator. And most importantly: in all variations, all plastic containers have a threaded section and a lid. And this is a very important thing for any master to do, which will help to fasten the products, if such a need arises. Let's consider several options for using plastic containers in the garden.

Plastic bottles for watering the garden

The first thing for which you can use ready-made PET containers is for irrigation. Irrigation of the site is generally a sore point for most summer residents, especially for those who receive water on schedule or visit a suburban area exclusively on weekends. In such a situation, useless plastic bottles will help, which will help create irrigation system for the whole site without any financial costs. Let's consider three easy-to-implement options for creating a drip irrigation system based on plastic bottles of various capacities.

Simple root irrigation system

In order to water the plants dosed and automatically, you will need:

• PET containers with a volume of 2 liters per bottle - one plant.
• foam rubber (any trim).

Pour 4/5 of the volume into each container. Insert a piece of foam rubber into the neck instead of the cork. Place the bottle under the plant so that the neck is right next to the root of the plant. When empty, just add water to the containers.

Drip irrigation

For a given irrigation system, the size and shape of the tanks does not matter. According to summer residents: the more, the better. The bottom of the bottles must be cut off. Make 3-5 holes in the cork with a hot awl or a thin drill, 1-2 mm in diameter. Screw the stopper tightly onto the neck.

Dig such a container vertically (neck down) near each plant and fill it with water.Such a stationary root irrigation system requires only timely filling with water.

Suspended irrigation system

In this option, use whole bottles with a capacity of 2 to 5 liters. depending on the reliability of the fastening system. As with creating a drip system, make several holes with a diameter of 1 mm in the cork.

Now you need to build a support. At different ends of the bed, you should dig in spears, on top of which put a jumper (rail, bar). Hang the filled containers with the neck down to the upper bar.

To prevent water from eroding the ground, the place where drops of water fall should be mulched.

The advantages of a plastic bottle irrigation system are undeniable:

• the soil is moistened directly in the root zone of the plant;
• irrigation is carried out by water heated by the sun;
• the possibility of adding fertilizers directly to the water;
• variability of application.

But the main advantage of such watering is that it does not require the presence of a person.

Agrotechnics using PET bottles

Any container can be used to grow greens. The main thing is to ensure timely watering and avoid stagnation of water in the lower part of the tank. This can be done by creating vertical garden from plastic bottles, which will not take up much space, but will decorate your fence, balcony railing, wall of the house.

Vertical garden with horizontal bottle holder

For such a structure, you will need:

• PET bottles, with a capacity of 2-5 liters;
• soft wire.

1/3 of the side of the bottle is cut out. The stopper is screwed onto the neck. On the opposite side to the cutout, a lot of drainage holes are made with an awl (nail, drill).

The bottles are filled with a substrate, inside which the seedlings or plant seeds are located. An impromptu pot is attached with soft wire to a vertical surface. The rest of the containers can be fastened one under the other or staggered.

Garden of vertically installed PET containers

This design is more complicated than the previous one, but it is much more efficient and differs in relative autonomy. So, to create such a structure, you need:

• PET bottles, volume 1-3 liters.
• rubber or silicone hose ½ inch.
• a section of a sewer pipe with plugs, the diameter is at the discretion of the owner.

The bottles are cut approximately in half. The upper part will be used to create a vertical garden, the lower one will be used to create decorations, which will be discussed below. The tops of the bottles are attached under each other with the neck down. A hose with irrigation holes is laid through each vertical row. The free space is filled with earth or substrate. The upper part of the hoses is fixed in the ebb by means of necks and stoppers from plastic bottles.

Water is supplied to the system from the water supply system, and the section of the sewer pipe will play the role of a liquid storage tank. This design allows the rational use of water for drip irrigation. A vertical garden made of plastic bottles does not require a summer resident of either place or large financial costs. You can always make such a design out of unnecessary containers that is best suited directly to your summer cottage.

In the section of agrotechnical crafts, only options for creating a vertical garden were considered. In fact, there are dozens of other ways to use TET containers for agrotechnical purposes. Lightweight, flexible and durable containers can be made from plastic bottles, which are widely used as flower pots, pots, containers for seedlings.

PET bottles for decorating a summer cottage

Due to its properties, plastic containers have long been successfully used by our summer residents to create garden decor. Next, we will consider several examples of the successful use of plastic bottles of various sizes in garden decoration.

Fencing of beds and flower beds

The simplest construction of a fence made of plastic containers is a palisade. In order to make a continuous fence of such a structure, you will need a lot of bottles of the same volume and shape, filled with earth (sand, clay)

Now the matter is small: we assemble the structure. We dig each container half the length into the ground, creating a "bottle palisade". After construction. You can leave it as it is, or you can paint the resulting border in any colors of the rainbow.

You can go a simpler way: do not dig in the elements of the stockade, but fasten them together with tape.

The design is simply placed on the grass outlining the boundaries of a flower bed or garden bed.

garden path

To create a garden path, bottoms from PET bottles with a capacity of 2 liters are required.

• the soil is leveled.
• covered with a layer of wet sand, layer thickness 70-100 mm.

The bottoms are laid out on the future track and carefully driven into the sand until they are completely filled. The joints between the bottoms are covered with dry sand, and for better fixation - with sand-cement mortar.

Flowers from PET bottles

It is enough just to decorate a summer cottage with the help of "plantings" of plastic flowers.

It is extremely simple to make such a composition: you just need to wake up your imagination, pick up a knife, several plastic bottles and a coil of thick wire.

From the tapering part of the bottle, you can create beautiful flowers that will be used for creating bouquets, decorating crafts for home and garden.

Cut the neck lengthwise, forming six petals. Round off each one with scissors. We melt the edges of the petals over an open flame to give them volume. The inner part of the flower can be cut from plastic of a different color. We glue (sew) the structure using polymer glue or thin wire.

Animal figurines for garden decoration

The Internet is replete with photographs of funny animals made from plastic bottles. If you also decide to decorate your garden with funny animals from PET containers, then the easiest option is funny pigs and bunnies.

The bunny is done simply:

• in the tapering part, two cuts are made for the "ears";
• the ears themselves are cut from a plastic bottle.

The structure is assembled with glue.

Pigs are made in the same way, but only in a horizontal version. The main thing is to color your creation correctly and make it recognizable.

Household supplies from plastic bottles

What can be useful in the economy for a domestic summer resident-gardener? Broom, shovels, pest traps, washbasins, various containers for storing small items. But a simple rope is recognized by most summer residents as one of the most functional and useful materials in the household.

PET bottle rope

A rope from a plastic bottle will help out in an unforeseen situation and will become an indispensable assistant to the summer resident. How to make a strong rope from a plastic bottle with your own hands? To create a tape from a PET bottle (on an industrial scale), you will need to make a simple machine, consisting of:

• blades from a clerical knife;
• 4-8 metal washers with an outer diameter of 25-30 mm and a thickness of 2 mm;
• 2 bolts with nuts, diameter 4-6 mm, length 40-50 mm;
• board (a piece of plywood, chipboard), 16-25 mm thick.

Assembling the structure. Drill through holes for bolts in the board. Washers will be put on them. The distance between the bolts should be such that a distance of half the diameter of the washer remains between the washers. Now install the washers on the bolts. The height of the "pyramid" from the stand will correspond to the width of the tape. Put the blade on the upper washer, cover it with a washer, fix it with nuts.

To get the tape, cut off the bottom of the bottle (it is useful for making garden decor), push the edge of the bottle between the blade and the stand.

There are a lot of options for using a rope from plastic bottles.A strong and lightweight tape is used by domestic gardeners for tying vegetables, trees, creating supports for climbing plants, weaving furniture, braiding handles of garden tools, etc. A feature of this tape is shrinkage when exposed to high temperatures. When heated, the PET tape assembly self-tightens!

Garden broom

In terms of its operational characteristics, a broom made of plastic bottles is not inferior to purchased counterparts. To independently create such a useful product in the household, you will need:

• 7 PET bottles, 2 l;
• shovel handle;
• wire;
• two self-tapping screws (nails);
• awl, scissors, knife.

Cut off the neck and bottom of six bottles. Use scissors to cut the strips on each piece, 5-6 cm before the top edge. The width of the strip is 0.5 cm. Cut the bottom from the untouched container (do not touch the neck!). Next, repeat the operation similar to the previous blanks.

Assembling the structure. We put the rest of the blanks on the bottle with the neck. We squeeze the resulting product from the sides and fix the position of the blanks with a wire. It remains only to insert and fix the holder.

The plastic bottle broom is ready to use. The whole process is shown in detail in the figure.

Scoop from plastic containers

This product will be an excellent addition to a PET container broom. Everything is simple here: take a plastic container and mark the shape of the future scoop with a marker.

Cut straight along the line using a utility knife. Such a scoop from a plastic canister will last long enough.

The simplest washstand

To make the simplest washbasin from a plastic bottle, it is necessary to cut off the bottom of the container, turn it upside down, make holes for attachment to a vertical surface.

You can wash your hands by unscrewing the plug a little so that water flows through the loose connection.

Small items storage containers

Any owner of a summer cottage has a lot of little things on the farm. One problem - they all have to be sorted and available when needed. For storing small things, you can easily make containers from plastic containers. Any one that is at hand will do:

1. In the upper side part we make a hole, the size of which should make it easy to get objects out of the container.
2. We drill a hole in the lid and screw in a bolt with a diameter of 2 mm.
3. We put a washer under the bolt head.
4. Fix with a nut on the reverse side.

Assembling the structure. Run the ends of the wire section under the washer and form a loop. We screw the lid with a loop onto the container. Now it can be easily placed on a vertical surface. An ordinary nail can act as an element for hanging the container on a vertical surface.

If you use plastic containers from household chemicals or machine oil, then you can assemble a whole chest of drawers in the same way for storing small things.

Insect trap

Mosquitoes and flies are the eternal "neighbors" of man, which are almost impossible to get rid of. Nevertheless, their population can be reduced by using the well-known PET container as a trap material.

Cut off the tapering part of the plastic bottle, turn it over and insert it into the remaining part with the neck down. Sugar syrup can be used as bait. If you add a little yeast to the composition, you can get rid of not only flies and ants, but also wild wasps.

A simple weather vane from a PET bottle will help scare birds away from fresh crops, drive moles from the site.

The design is simple: we cut out and bend the side sections of the container in the form of blades. We put the resulting product on a thick wire or stick. The wind turns the weather vane. Vibration is transmitted along the guide, which (according to the assurances of experts) is very disliked by moles and afraid of birds.

Bird feeders

The simplest feeder on the personal plot will attract birds that will help the owner of the suburban area to fight pests and insects.

They are not difficult to do: just cut out the windows in the side of the five-liter plastic bottles. The handle is useful for hanging the feeder on a branch.

Greenhouses from PET containers

All crafts, discussed above, can easily be done by any summer resident. But if you have experience in carpentry work, then with the help of PET containers you can create an excellent greenhouse, without which it is impossible to grow an early harvest in our climatic zone.

Such structures have many advantages, of which the main one is low cost. PET is much stronger than polyethylene film and much cheaper than traditional polycarbonate. The construction of plastic bottles is warm and light. It can always be repaired by simply replacing the damaged element.

There are two technologies for the construction of greenhouses and gazebos:

1. From plates.
2. From whole elements.

Next, let's look at the process of creating a greenhouse from whole plastic bottles.

Frame

Almost any material is suitable for its creation:

• The metal profile is durable and strong, but expensive.
• Wood is available and easy to handle, but short-lived.
• PVC pipes are a great option if you already have a fair amount of pipes and fittings that you don't need to buy.

In any case, if you decide to make a greenhouse from plastic bottles with your own hands, then make a frame from the material most accessible to you.

It should be understood: the metal frame will require the creation of a capital foundation, which significantly increases the cost of the project. The PVC pipe support structure does not need a foundation, but it does need to be reinforced to withstand gusts of wind.

Filling

It is better to use identical PET bottles with a capacity of 2 liters from which you need to remove the label as a building material for the enclosing structures.

For a greenhouse with a size of 1.5 by 2.5, from 400 to 600 PET elements may be required.

Construction technology

The greenhouse is assembled from elements that are assembled from PET bottles. The bottom of each building element (bottle) is cut off. Then the elements are pushed on top of each other, creating an impromptu "plastic log". To attach this element, a cord or rail is pulled through the middle. The finished block is vertically fixed to the frame. The construction process continues until the frame is completely filled: in this way the walls are recruited and the roof is covered.

Buildings from plastic bottles

PET containers can be used to build more serious buildings than gazebos and greenhouses. Next, we will consider a method of erecting an outbuilding from plastic bottles, applying the experience of Bolivian builders in practice:

1. The pit is being dug and the foundation is being erected.
2. We create a replacement for brick, instead of which PET bottles of the same volume will be used. They are filled with sand, clay or earth, which is often left after digging a pit.
3. The elements are tied together and laid in rows. To tie the rows, a sand-cement mortar is used.
4. A reinforcing mesh is laid between the rows.

After laying, only the necks of the building elements remain without mortar. For additional fastening, builders recommend tying the necks together, creating a kind of plaster mesh. Now all that remains is to carefully plaster the walls, hiding the material that was used for the construction.

This technology can be used for the construction of capital buildings: fences, garages and one-story residential buildings, which, according to the masters, turn out to be quite warm and strong.

In this publication, answers were given to the question of how plastic bottles can be used on the farm.In fact, a new application for this material is found every day, which cannot but please any normal person, because plastic is practically not recycled due to low profitability. Giving a "second life" to PET containers, we cleanse the planet from garbage, which is simply buried in landfills or disposed of in incinerators, poisoning the environment.