TWO Caernarfon youngsters have bottled up their enthusiasm for saving the planet.

Erin Pritchard, 11, and Efa Pritchard, 10, have been collecting one-litre plastic bottles, which they fill with waste single-use plastics, such as food wrappers, to a weight of 300-350g per litre.

The bottles are then turned into re-usable ‘eco-bricks’ which can be used to make modular furniture, garden spaces and full-scale buildings.

Erin, who is a pupil at Ysgol Syr Hugh Owen, and Efa, who is at the Hendre School, started saving the bottles about a month ago as part of their community work as pageant queens.

Efa is the Young European International Junior Miss and Erin is Young European International Miss Pre-Teen, Gwynedd.

The girls have managed to complete 15 full bottles which will be sent to the Bwyd Bendigedig Port - Incredible Edible community garden project in Porthmadog, for distribution and use by Lizzie Wynn.

Lizzie, is a visiting lecturer at the Centre for Alternative Technology, at Machynlleth, and has been practicing sustainable construction for more than 20 years.

“PET bottles (polyethylene terephthalate) are strong enough to be stuffed with clean single use plastics.

It is important the plastic is clean and weighs 300-350g per litre.” She said.

“The bottles create a robust and insulated brick. They can be used with a traditional “cob” mortar of clay-earth and straw or bracken, in various types of building projects.”

The girls’ bottles are set to be used in a greenhouse space or raised beds at the community garden.

Gemma Pritchard, the girls’ mum said: “Erin and Efa decided they wanted to do something positive to help the environment. I couldn’t be prouder of them.”

Eco bricks can be donated to the garden project on Thursdays, 11-1pm, and Mondays, 5pm-7pm.

Details how to fill bricks at Ecobricks North Wales, Facebook.