MANGALURU: Plastic. Microplastics. Recycling. Sustainability. These are words one hears quite often, but the Canara Organization for Development and Peace (CODP) has taken them a step further. Thirty-plus benches installed all over the city of Mangaluru have an innovative backstory to them, or rather, an innovative base.
Since 1998, and more properly since 2019, benches at Fajir Church, Morgan’s Gate Park, Kadri Park and now Father Muller’s, have plastic bottles as their base. These bottles are carefully put together through a process that CODP director Fr Vincent D’Souza describes as “filling 1-litre and 2-litre bottles with other plastic trash with a stick. It has to be absolutely full to be used.”
How does one get so much plastic together? It has been painstakingly brought together from various sources: local bakeries, collected by 400 Seva Sanghs and lastly, from functions at CODP’s own banquet hall. Such tightly packed stone-like bottles are called “eco-bricks”, sparking curiosity and leaving one wondering where they began and how they made their way to Mangaluru.
Fr.Vincent explains, “A German student, Ida Nitsche, came here with two of her friends. She taught us how to make these eco-bricks.”
While the Philippines had the first eco-brick structure, this unique offering is catching up in India, bringing with it employment opportunities too. The bench at Father Muller’s was inaugurated in May 2024 and two specially trained workers built the traditional part of it.
The benches at educational institutions had eco-bricks put together by children as young as 10 years old! That makes it a hands-on experience with sustainability and creativity.
A lot of thought goes into making and improving the benches based on responses. The benches are built away from trees to prevent micro-plastics reaching roots, but small leafy plants like mahogany are planted to provide shade to the resting public.
Also, after having noticed the lack of interest shown in the Kadri Park bench, the CODP upped its innovation by adding back support in its subsequent benches. This one-of-a-kind offering has inspired varied thoughts and feelings from the wandering public.
One man who frequents the Father Muller area, says he had never noticed the uniqueness of the bench till attention was drawn to it. At Kadri, a regular park goer doesn’t find it aesthetically pleasing, but likes the idea behind it.
Deepak, a Madikeri native, was wonder-struck when he saw the green and white dotted bench at Kadri and wanted it to be replicated in his hometown too. An unnamed engineer allayed concerns about decomposition of the benches. People ask that while plastic may last for 400 years as claimed, what about cement and clay?
To this, he responded, “Firstly, 400 years is a long timescale for a bench, if it lasts for 50 years alone it is a triumph. Secondly, if the structure deteriorates, the foundation can be redone and put back. It is still a better bet than wooden or metal benches.”
The benches are deliberately designed to show the green, yellow and white bottoms of the bottles, displaying their non-organic origins. The bottles have to be homogenous (same-sized) to make the structure strong. The individual shape of the bottles doesn’t matter, but their quantity does.
The Kadri Park bench is made up of 175 bottles put together by Seva Sanghs like Kamadhenu, Kalpavriksha, while Father Muller’s bench took up six months of trash, all of which would’ve filled landfills and polluted oceans instead. Eco-bricks are creative, innovative, fun to make and relatively earthquake-proof. They take the vices of plastic, like its durability, and convert it into a strength.
The Canara Organization for Development and Peace will celebrate its Golden Jubilee (1974-2024) this year, and perseveres in its efforts to bring about an innovative stop-gap solution for plastic accumulation through its eco-brick benches.