Washington: A Dutch architect has announced plans to build a Recycled Island that is sustainable and floats using the plastic debris collected from the Pacific.
Ramon Knoester went public with his ideas for Recycled Island, which would support its own agriculture, a community of inhabitants, and even tourists from its position somewhere between Hawaii and San Francisco, in 2009, Discovery News reported.
His firm, Whim Architecture, is now in the process of designing a prototype of the 10,000 square kilometre habitat with a grant from the Netherlands Architecture Fund (according to the firm’s website).
According to CTV News, Koester estimates it will take years once they begin gathering plastic in from the Pacific before they have enough to melt together (using solar power) into the island.
Regardless, even that article agrees that plastics make up most of the debris found in the ocean, and Recycled Island could be one creative solution for how to clean up and reuse some of it.
Seaweed and compost toilets will make the island fertile, and the living arrangements are envisioned as urban, mixed-use. Since the city will be floating, Whim plans to keep the residents’ connection to the water, with a canal-heavy design.
It will be powered by solar and wave energy, with the aim of having zero negative environmental impact and remaining completely self-sustainable.
About a half a million residents – slightly less than the population of Baltimore – could reside on Recycled Island.
ANI
First Published: Friday, April 01, 2011, 19:17