By Catherine Somerville of Sustainable Wallingford.

I wrote a couple of months ago about a project called Eco Bricks.

This is a system where, instead of putting unrecyclable plastic into the rubbish bin, you sequester it and make eco bricks instead.

That just means putting it to another use and keeping it out of the waste system altogether.

I had mentioned this to family and a few friends, and to my great delight, I discover that lots of people locally are beginning to do this.

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It’s really catching on.

The idea is that you gather all the unrecyclable plastic that seems to come from your shopping no matter how hard you try to avoid it, for example fruit and veg wrapped in plastic, cold meats, the plastic seal on bottle tops, the wrappers off sweets and biscuits, and you stuff it into a plastic bottle.

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Use the handle of a wooden spoon to push it down as far as it will go and made it as tight as you can.

When full, the bottle should feel absolutely solid and not ‘give’ at all when you squeeze it.

The website provides all sorts of information and ideas to get you started.

It also advises on the best size of bottle to use and other tips – check out all the facts now at ecobricks.org

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When you have gathered enough bottles, you can get creative with what to make.

This could be a school or community project.

A problem with using them outdoors is that sunlight degrades plastic so when complete your brick needs to be coated with something. But not concrete.

There is a good guide on the website showing exactly how to make a good brick and the pitfalls to avoid.

You can register your bricks on the GoBrik app.

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The website also now has a map showing places in the UK where other people are making ecobricks.

Henley, Theale and Reading are the nearest places to us currently registered.

I have a project to make a new garden path with mine when I have enough.

The current path is concrete and is breaking up.

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Might have to steal some from my family to get it done in reasonable time.

Do have a look at the website to learn more.

I’d love to hear what you create with your bricks.

But never forget it’s still best to buy as little in plastic as possible.