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The Bottle Collector

Story by Josiah Theisen, Photography by Tineke Ziemer

By Tineke Ziemer

April 5^th, 2016

Man Uses 60,000 Bottles to make buildings!

There is a man who makes houses… out of glass bottles! Franc Hocevar, from Slovenia, has made 5 houses that are quite large out of steel frames and glass juice bottles. Many people come to see this extremely unique hobby. He’s even currently making a church!

He started the project as “something to pass the time” as Ciril Novak, his 2nd cousin, says. As Franc got into it, all the people in Slovenia and from as far away as Germany sent him juice bottles, contributing to his project. He uses I-litre silicone bottles and glue to make his houses. The glue company supports him and supplies ALL his glue for free.

“I just make it up as I go” he says. He sometimes gets help from a relative, but mostly does it on his own. In total, he has used more than 60,000 bottles, and 35,000 on just one house.1 He has a steel structure and a concrete floor, but the rest is completely bottles.

He is not the only one who makes buildings out of bottles though. In Taiwan a giant building was made out of 1.5 million PET bottles, dubbed the EcoARK. It was made to show awareness of recycling.