A British man has created an island home in the Caribbean – with 120,000 plastic bottles. Richard ‘Rishi’ Sowar used the rubbish that would otherwise have been buried in landfill make Spiral Island II in a lagoon off Mexico’s Caribbean coast. Filling fabric bags with the discarded bottles and then attaching them to pallets, the environmentalist’s island has a house, beaches, two ponds and even a solar-powered waterfall. Situated in Isla Mujeres near the tourist resort of Cancun, it appears Rishi has created his very own piece of paradise.
He said: ‘I’m not a scientist but I just believe in the power of nature.
‘I get my bottles to do this from the local rubbish tip.
‘We have a big problem with rubbish. If we start to make more bottle islands we don’t have to look for places to put it (the bottles). It turns to treasure – it creates land.’
Rishi said the bottles, though man-made, easily fit in with their surroundings with coral taking root on the undersides of his home as he continues to expand.
He uses a boat to get to the shore and receives visitors from around the world keen to help with his ambitious project.
The island is the second built by Rishi – in 1998 he created a much larger one using 250,000 bottles off Puerto Aventura, Mexico.
However, disaster struck in 2005 when it was destroyed by Hurricane Emily.
Spiral Island II has been built in a location where it should be protected from the extremes of nature.
Repeating Islands 
