Unemployed Couple Builds 70-Square-Meter Home Using 10,000 Recycled Glass Bottles

Dóris Dias and Robson Lopes constructed the exterior walls of a 70-square-meter home using more than 10,000 recycled glass bottles in Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil, as reported by La Nación.

Job Losses Sparked the Glass Bottle Build in April 2020

The project began in April 2020 after Robson lost his job as a supermarket stockroom worker. Dóris, a social educator, could not work due to health problems. Inspiration came from an earlier experience at their wedding in September 2019, where they used recycled items for decoration.

The couple walked the streets of Foz do Iguaçu to gather discarded bottles. Friends, family, and neighbors eventually joined the effort through donations. For the exterior walls, they primarily used 600-milliliter glass bottles to replace traditional bricks, binding them together with a mixture of cement and sand. Smaller bottles went into interior partitions, while iron and other elements completed the support structure. By September 2020, they had invested approximately 3,000 Brazilian reals, though the roof, doors, and windows still required installation, prompting them to organize a fundraising drive.

Expansion Reached 85 Square Meters by June 2024

The initiative grew significantly over the next four years. By June 2024, local reporting from H2FOZ indicated the house had expanded to 85 square meters, consuming approximately 20,000 glass bottles. Water, electricity, and sewage installations were largely put in place. The layout features a master bedroom with a private bathroom, a second bedroom, a main bathroom, a kitchen integrated with the living room, a laundry area, and a garage. Dóris plans to open the completed home to visitors interested in sustainable building methods.

Parallel projects emerged elsewhere in Brazil during the pandemic. In the island of Itamaracá, Pernambuco, Edna Dantas and her daughter Maria Gabrielly built a seven-room house known as Casa de Sal using 8,000 glass bottles, as detailed by La Razón. That project also incorporated reclaimed wood, pallets, and empty toothpaste tubes transformed into roof tiles. Like the Foz do Iguaçu build, the Pernambuco initiative turned local waste found on beaches and near mangroves into structural material, while overcoming physical labor challenges and traditional construction biases.