Through a research conducted at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology conducted by Larry Mwendwa during his last year as a BSc Agriculture student in 2018, indicated that used plastic Coca-Cola bottles can be reused for agricultural production through capillary wick irrigation system. The plastic bottles were cut at the center and then inverted such that the lower side of the bottle acts as the water reservoir and the upper part acts as the planting media reservoir. The wick material was installed in the bottle such that is draws water from the reservoir which is the lower side of the bottle. In the media reservoir, Swiss chard and black night shade vegetables were transplanted and were watered automatically using by the wick installed, fertigation was also possible in this system without loss of any nutrients. After four weeks the system showed promising results hence this can be up scaled as a measure to manage plastic bottles waste especially in urban areas. The method is efficient and effective and in addition it uses less labor, reduced water and nutrients use, less space as it can even be done at the house balcony and still produce high yields, hence it’s a good modern farming model. Millions of waste plastic lay in dumpsites and it’s a nuisance and a threat to environment. If the bottles can be used for food production rather than as environmental degradation threat, it can be a significant milestone to food security and environmental conservation especially in urban areas.
INNOVATIVE MINDS 