Ginger Restaurant in Buenos Aires, Argentina, caught the eye of TreeHugger’s Paula Alvarado who reported on their use of more than 5,000 wine bottles plucked from the trash and turned into an impressive looking and acoustics-improving ceiling.
Alvarado, who visited the Ginger restaurant, reported that owner, Diego Valentin, is also an engineer who had the idea to build in a lower ceiling below the original with a metal net fitted to accommodate the reused bottles.
Bottles are used throughout the restaurant in different arrangements and in different color schemes; as well, bottle corks find use in the restaurant.
Valentin said the idea for using the wine bottles came because the restaurant was difficult on the ears as sound had been bouncing around because of the high ceilings, but the curved and smooth nature of the bottles helps to contain the sound making it more comfortable for guests to hold conversations over dinner.
In just America alone, we recycle nearly 13 million glass jars and bottles every day, with millions more ending up in landfills. Modern glass bottles are estimated to take at least 4000 years to decompose.
Each ton of glass creates 385 pounds of waste produced from mining and transport of raw materials. When half of the raw materials are substituted with recycled materials, waste is cut by more than 80 percent.
Recycling one glass bottle can save enough energy to run a 100-watt light bulb for four hours and a compact fluorescent bulb would run for 20 hours. Recycled glass reduces air pollution by 20 percent and requires 50 percent less water than making a new bottle from raw materials.
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Photo: Paula Alvarado
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