Innovation: There were just too many pet bottles, here, there and everywhere. And then the idea struck him. Tshering Penjor Sherpa, 27, from Rangthaling in Tsirang, came up with the notion to build a greenhouse out of pet bottles.
It took 400kg of pet bottles for Tshering Penjor Sherpa to construct a greenhouse. He collected the discarded bottles from town. Some he bought from scrap dealers. He has a shack filled with pet bottles.
Tshering Penjor Sherpa’s greenhouse at Nimesa village is today the centre of attraction.
“I thought it would be easy to get pet bottles. Turned out I was wrong. I had to buy from scrap dealers,” said Tshering Penjor. He got 101kg of bottles from one scrap dealer in Damphu. But he had to make use of increasing waste. “Nothing is useless.”
Tshering Penjor Sherpa got the idea of making good use of waste from the internet. His mother scolded him when be began messing her kitchen garden with loads of pet bottles.
“I found a very simple design to make a greenhouse out of pet bottles. It’s quite a challenge, however, when you begin doing it all by yourself,” said Tshering Penjor Sherpa.
Construction of the greenhouse was completed in December last year. In it grows good, big, and healthy tomatoes.
“The whole project took two months. Walls had to be build out of it,” he said. “The idea helped clean the streets of so many waste.”
Tshering Penjor Sherpa is also trying some innovative ideas besides building greenhouse out of pet bottles. He wants to make lunch basket, flowers, pencil box and broach stand out of discarded pet bottles.
“We must take personal initiative to take care of our environment,” said Tshering Penjor Sherpa. He has plans to sell his finished products, like lunch baskets, in the school so that idea will seep into young people.
He also wants to build a model canopy out of waste materials.
By Yeshey Dema, Tsirang