Construction of the building used 2,000 tires, 5,000 glass bottles, 21,500 square feet of cardboard and 8,000 aluminum cans.

The first sustainable public school in Latin America started classes Wednesday after three and a half months of construction with recycled materials, informed the center on Twitter.

The sustainable facility is located in Jaureguiberry, a city in the southern Uruguayan province of Canelones, some 50 miles east of Montevideo. It will operate as a rural school. The first of the 100 students the school can accommodate started classes on March 28.

The sustainable school project is being run by Martin Esposito, and the new building was designed by U.S. architect Michael Reynolds, who has worked on building self-sufficient housing projects for the past 45 years.

Construction of the building, which started in February, used 2,000 tires, 5,000 glass bottles, 21,500 square feet of cardboard and 8,000 aluminum cans.

The school gets its electricity from solar panels and wind turbines, and the building is equipped to generate electricity, provide heating and running water, and grow organic foods.

The school has joined the Uruguay Natural branding program under an agreement signed by Tourism Minister Liliam Kechichian and Uruguay XXI promotion agency executive director, Antonio Carambula.

 

 

Source: teleSUR