For many people, a glut of plastic bottles floating in a lagoon would be negative. For entrepreneur Eric Becker, it sparked an idea for a business opportunity.
Among the litter, he had a vision to build a holiday destination with swimming pools, bars and relaxation areas.
Becker initially moved to the Côte d’Ivoire with a plan to set up a catamaran business. It took him six years to build the island resort from plastic bottles, he told Reuters. The result floats on 700,000 bottles packed into boxes in the middle of Abidjan’s lagoon, with a hotel that opened in 2018.
“Little by little, my idea of building a travel boat turned into how to build a system,” Becker says.
The project showcases how plastic can repurposed and used in innovative ways.
“It is a beautiful project and I think in future there will be several floating islands like this one,” says Becker. “We could have floating islands all over Côte d’Ivoire and that would be great for us.”
This article was first published by the World Economic Forum.