How can I best use all these glass bottles?

March 1, 2013 2:41 PM

I would like to landscape using these empty beer bottles. Basically, I want to set the bottles end down into the ground and have a patio floor of the glass bottle bottoms. Can I do this? Have you ever done this or seen this?

The recycling center in my town does not take glass. The nearest place that does is 50 miles away. I like to buy beer in glass bottles and then drink the beer but I don't like to throw the empty beer bottles in the trash. I have plenty of room to mess around outside with landscaping and such, and in fact need to do so.

I can build a slipform wall w masonry/bottles, but I would rather excavate an area and fill w sand and set the bottles in the sand and then pack sand or perhaps mortar around the bottles. Thoughts?

Should I just forget it and haul (and then continue to haul) these bottles an hour away to the recycling every so often?

posted by J0 to home & garden (20 answers total)

If you use the bottles whole, it'll probably be better to pack them with sand first, although I suspect you'd still get a lot of breakage caused by pressure (walking/standing) fluctuations in moisture or even snow and freezing over time. Could you perhaps slice off the bottom inch or so of the bottles and use just that?

Alternatively, how about using them to build either a low garden wall or even a shed or gazebo-like structure? Seal the empty bottles, stack them closely on their sides and use mortar to hold the whole thing together. Make a shady space for a table and chairs, with the light filtering in through the glass.
posted by easily confused at 2:50 PM on March 1 [2 favorites]

My issue would be breakage as well. Floors are hard wearing, especially if outside. Stuff gets dropped, scraped across, etc. You don't want to risk breaking the bottom of a bottle. I've seen walls done with bottles though, that could be nice.
posted by defcom1 at 2:59 PM on March 1

If you live in an area that experiences freeze/thaw cycles, the glass will definitely break, since it won't expand and contract along with the mortar.
posted by orme at 3:07 PM on March 1

What about buying a rock tumbler and creating glass aggregate for landscaping?
posted by orme at 3:12 PM on March 1

Beach Glass?
posted by Marky at 3:16 PM on March 1 [3 favorites]

Ooooh, here's a thought, but it depends on how handy you are!

Picture a sort of igloo, made of the nothing but the glass bottles --- no mortar. On a slab of concrete, lay a circle of the bottles, tops inward. Use wire, NOT mortar, to connect them: wire would permit the bottles to expand and contract more as they heat or cool, and would also make it easier to replace any that DO break. Keep adding layers of the bottles, wired to each other and the other layers. Eventually, because the tops of the bottles are smaller than the bases, you'd get a kind of 'keystone' effect, and the layers would close inwards to form a dome: a glass igloo. Imagine sitting inside with the sun shining through, especially if you use different colors of bottles, clear and green and brown.
posted by easily confused at 3:56 PM on March 1 [1 favorite]

If you live in an area that experiences freeze/thaw cycles, the glass will definitely break, since it won't expand and contract along with the mortar.

I don't think this is true. There is an entire house-sized structure made out of bottles near where I live and it has been standing for years in a freeze-thaw climate.
posted by ssg at 4:11 PM on March 1

You might have better luck slicing off the bottom of each bottle and inlaying the disc into concrete. The remaining part can be recycled into wind chimes or candle covers - there's a lady I see at local craft shows selling bottomless wine bottle wind chimes for $20 or more each.

If you really want to embed the full bottle, maybe you should fill each bottle with an inch or so of polyurethane casting resin for the translucency before packing in the sand. The resin may also help bind the glass in case of breakage. Maybe you should build a couple of test areas or better yet, buy some plastic buckets and run some mini tests so you can try out different options.

(or make a whole lot of bottle trees)
posted by jaimystery at 4:31 PM on March 1 [1 favorite]

I found a site that shows a Buddhist temple made from thousands of beer bottles. It's shows a monk walking on a floor made from them so it looks like it can be done. I think making a test run is a good idea. I've seen people using cardboard boxes as concrete molds for papercrete blocks. Maybe you could try out different ways of using bottles (whole, top cut off, filled...) and pack sand around them for trial runs. Put concrete blocks on top to test for strength.

Since that's a lot or weight for cardboard, you might want to see if you have anything wood or metal like an old drawer/box or you might be able to use duct tape around a card board box the way they use bands on an aquarium to prevent the weight of the water from breaking it. Good luck to you! It looks like it could be really neat if you can get it to turn out.

http://www.treehugger.com/sustainable-product-design/buddhist-temple-built-from-beer-bottles.html


More projects.

http://webecoist.momtastic.com/2011/02/28/booze-it-up-13-rad-recycled-bottle-crafts-projects/
posted by stray thoughts at 5:07 PM on March 1

Woo hoo, I found some instructions (way too excited about this!), with bonus cat photo. Searched for "beer bottle projects" if you're looking for more ideas.

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/q9_XWpnPbDHvqLoKWN4nvA?feat=directlink
posted by stray thoughts at 5:30 PM on March 1

This California landmark may be of interest to you.
posted by dottiechang at 5:41 PM on March 1 [1 favorite]

The bases of beer bottles would definitely be tough enough. I think if it was me I'd fill the bottles with either sand or concrete before upending so that if a bottle end did end up breaking out you wouldn't end up with a serious hazard to navigation. Also glass is plenty tough in compression as long as it doesn't experience impact shock.
posted by Mitheral at 6:35 PM on March 1

If you live in an area that experiences freeze/thaw cycles, the glass will definitely break, since it won't expand and contract along with the mortar.

I don't think this is true. There is an entire house-sized structure made out of bottles near where I live and it has been standing for years in a freeze-thaw climate.
posted by ssg at 7:11 PM on March 1
[+] [!]


Yeah, but this being in the ground, there's more moisture present and more water to freeze and crack the glass. Same thing happens to patio bricks mortared in place on concrete.
posted by orme at 7:43 PM on March 1

If you decide not to use the bottles for landscaping, try putting up a Craigslist or Freecycle ad. There are plenty of homebrewers out there that would LOVE to take your bottles away.
posted by elsietheeel at 7:59 PM on March 1

Thanks for all your suggestions
I will look into your links when I have a bit more time
I do not want to make sculptures at all
I don't think anyone wants to drive to a small farm outside Concordia KS to pickup my bottles but they are welcome to them, so I will post a craigslist ad, worth a try!
I have an old basement full of them
I might be a hoarder

On a related note, do any bottlers actually REFILL bottles (in America)? I mean, the only thing wrong with this beer bottle is that there's no beer in it = clean bottle, fill bottle, seal bottle, sell bottle?... No, no, it is much better to break up the bottle for later...
posted by J0 at 8:32 PM on March 1

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/q9_XWpnPbDHvqLoKWN4nvA?feat=directlink

this looks like about exactly what I want to do, thank you Stray Thoughts

but, also, I DO need to buy a rock tumbler now
posted by J0 at 8:36 PM on March 1

Beach glass maker
posted by J0 at 8:41 PM on March 1

I bet you could do something cool if you melted them.
posted by oceanjesse at 9:46 PM on March 1

For regular plain brown glass beer bottles, yes they wash them out and refill them. I heard on the podcast Good Job, Brain! that the corona beer bottles, however, are made for single use only - they're thinner. So they get crushed up and melted down.
posted by ergo at 8:11 AM on March 2

Not in the USA, they don't.
posted by ssg at 11:30 AM on March 2