Using 26,500 plastic bottles, Deepti Sharma and Abhishek Anand, a Noida-based couple, have created a homestay in the mountains of Uttarakhand!

Being nature lovers, the mountains were the couple’s “recharging point”. On one of their two-hour trekking expeditions, the couple saw a mound of plastic waste instead of a glorious view.

As Deepti explains, this had happened because a nearby naala (drain) had flushed out all the plastic waste from the surrounding villages, leading it to accumulate at the spot.

“This was the trigger for us,” says Deepti, adding that her sister helped them connect with people in Rwanda, Africa, who had used discarded plastic waste to make cottages.

This was how the idea of the homestay ‘Re-Nirvana’ came into being.

In 2016, the couple purchased a plot of land in Nainital and began constructing the homestay using discarded plastic bottles that they would collect from scrap dealers.

In their 4-bedroom homestay, one room and two bathrooms have been constructed completely out of discarded plastic bottles.

When asked how much plastic waste was used to make the walls together, Deepti answered, “I would say that for one patch of wall, we used approximately 100 bottles.”

Besides using plastic, the couple also utilised about 200 old tyres for the flooring and stairs and made beautiful lamps with discarded whiskey bottles.

Deepti adds, “While we did not count the exact number of bottles that were used for this purpose, we estimate that more than 26,500 bottles were used in the construction.”

Abhishek assures that the model is safe despite utilising plastic. “The bottles act as fillers; welded in steel cages and sealed inside concrete. This makes the wall light compared to a brick wall.”

He adds, “Using plastic bottles has helped eliminate the use of 150 kg of sand and 15,000 bricks.”

The couple adds that they decided to offer a 20 percent discount to guests who go out plogging and bring back plastic bottles.

It is not just the construction materials that make this home a sustainable one.

The home has a rainwater harvesting system and is equipped with solar lights in every room. “Our aim is to be completely self-reliant,” Deepti shares.