Waste Reducing Interlocking Bottle for Construction

Votes: 1
Views: 3476

The design entry is a 2 liter bottle that would replace the current cylindrically produced soda and liquid bottles that are manufactured and distributed worldwide. The premise is to shorten the recycling chain the bottles go through to be useful again and reduce waste.

The bottle has a square profile with interlocking tabs on all sides. The bottom will accept the cap / mouth structure of another bottle. This allows bottles to be mechanically attached together with or without the use of an optional adhesive. This would allow people in developing nations to re-use the liquid bottles for light construction instead of discarding the currently distributed cylindrical bottles.

Structures could be built for nearly any use. Because the bottles could be clear or tinted, they may be ideal for greenhouses, light shelters, or additional buildings. Because they could be filled with air (For insulation), Sand (For Strength), or other materials, they are extremely versatile. They have a wide mouth for easily back-filling with media. Since they are plastic, they can be cut for storage, indoor growing, or strung together for filtration systems. They also require little to no tools or skills for proper construction. Although a tube fed quick set adhesive would dramatically increase the strength of the connection it would also be easy to use. Instructions could be provided in pictograms to transcend language barriers.

Millions of bottles currently lay useless in landfills or dumps and large beverage companies already possess the manufacturing, distribution, logistics, and marketing needed to ensure this product is successful almost immediately. The manufacturing and distribution process is not much different than the widely used blow-molding techniques already in use. There would likely be a slight increase in production cost due to more complex re-tooling.

This design quickly addresses several issues economically. It provides a secondary use for a product in mass circulation while reducing the waste footprint of said product. The secondary use is a simple and effective solution for developing nations that does not require massive training or intervention. Finally it is a solution that can be enacted quickly for little cost.

The over-arching concept is that all packaging would be immediately re-usable in some form. Packaging and packing materials would be designed from the outset to serve multiple purposes and reduce waste while increasing value. A standard would certainly help move the idea forward.

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  • ABOUT THE ENTRANT

  • Name:
    Trent Zimmer
  • Type of entry:
    individual
  • Profession:
    Engineer/Designer
  • Number of times previously entering contest:
    3
  • Trent's favorite design and analysis tools:
    Solidworks, VisualCam
  • Trent's hobbies and activities:
    Flying, Diving, Shooting, Outdoors
  • Trent is inspired by:
    The desire to create something useful and see how it positively impacts the life of others.
  • Software used for this entry:
    Solidworks
  • Patent status:
    pending