A GROUP of students from Grace Academy in Solihull have received the silver award at this year’s Solihull Neighbourhoods in Bloom competition.
Fifteen eco-friendly students collected 1,500 plastic bottles to build the green house which is held together with bamboo canes.
One green-fingered student, Morgan Marshall said: “Making a greenhouse out of plastic bottles has shown me how wasteful our society can be.
“I’ve learnt a lot about sustainability through the eco-club and am looking forward to more projects in the future.
“I now understand the need to recycle or re-use plastics and am always more aware when I see people throwing plastics away.”
The greenhouse has been built to encourage students to grow their own crops, learn about plant reproduction, biodiversity, habitats and insects.
Tim Burgum, who has been teaching the benefits of recycling and re-using plastics, said: “We have been showing the students how plastics often end up in the ocean and can kill all sorts of animals and wildlife.
“Students really got behind the project, learning about the greenhouse effect and how plastic is designed to be thrown away and not re-used, but it can be re-used in the garden.
“We constructed flat packs with the recycled bottles and bamboo, and then put them together outside on the Eco site to build the greenhouse.
“We are planning to build one completely recycled area where everything we use to plant things is recycled.
“We have been growing courgettes, cucumbers and basil, selling on the produce and using the money to buy canes and seeds for the following year.”
