Unique Housing: Taking Expatriate Living to the Extreme

25 meters in diameter and floats on about 125,000 plastic bottles. As I step onto the island there is slight buoyancy and a smile crept across my face. Rishi resides in the three-story house he has built on the island which includes a guest room, kitchen, two showers and natural compost toilet.

The construction of Joysxee is fascinating; Rishi collects plastic bottles from all around Isla Mujeres and they get stuffed into recycled fruit sacks to create a floating platform. Palettes are put on top of the full fruit sacks, then board or carpeting on top of that, and finally sand. The baby mangroves he plants on the edges of the island serve as an additional locking system as their roots take hold of the bottles below.

Over just a few months a new bag of bottles will host barnacles and lock in to place underneath to provide more support for the entire island. The bottles stay under the island; they are sealed and remain in darkness which slows the decomposition process. The result is an island created out of approximately 70% recycled material. Rishi is continuously adding more bags of plastic bottles to the island so it can continue to grow and expand. He has been able to add a variety of plants such as sea grapes, mangroves, cactus, fruit-bearing plants bougainvillea and even palms.

Unique Housing: Taking Expatriate Living to the Extreme