By Jessica Anstice
As iso boredom set in, an igloo appeared in the lounge room of a Pakenham family.
Created from more than 450 two-litre plastic milk bottles, the igloo was put together by Cardinia Lakes mum Kristy Robinson.
Ms Robinson said the idea came about when she was in Garfield with her four-year-old son, Jaxon.
“We were wandering down the street to the post office and I dropped some rubbish unknowingly,” she recalled.
“Jaxon said to me, “Mummy that’s littering”, and picked up my rubbish.
“We chatted about what littering was and how much rubbish we produce at home etc.”
Since the beginning of Stage 4 lockdown, Jaxon had been begging to build an inside cubby house, using blankets and chairs.
Ms Robinson said he would sit inside a fort for hours, playing.
“Jaxon attends Cardinia Lakes Early Centre and they provided some fabulous weekly workbooks but I have struggled to get Jaxon to actually sit down and do them,” she said.
“So I thought to myself, ‘How can I teach Jaxon something about waste, rubbish, recycling, patience and build a cubby that I didn’t have to keep building each day’.
“So I went to Pinterest to check out cubbies built with bottles and there I found the igloo.”
Ms Robinson said she started collecting empty milk bottles from Clint and Michelle at Urban Hype cafe and began constructing the structure in August.
She would collect between 20 to 25 milk bottles per day.
“I would pop down when doing my groceries and grab the bottles from them at closing,” she said.
“Each day I would come home with a garbage bag full of milk bottles and my dad would wash them out for me and de-label them ready for glueing.
“Can you imagine if Urban Hype were back in full swing how many bottles they would actually have?”
Since being in iso, Ms Robinson said she was shocked when she discovered just how much rubbish she and her family produce.
“In all honesty, I think we all learnt a little about the importance of recycling and reducing our waste,” she said.
“Jaxon and I have looked at pictures of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and it’s really disturbing.”
Ms Robinson’s dad formed the base of the igloo, while she got glueing.
All up, 450 bottles were used as well as 30 glue sticks.
“The glue sticks were from Bunnings and came in packs of 12 and about $2.40 per pack so in total this cost me about $70. The glueing was actually really hard work,” she added.
“I built the igloo in two pieces – built the bottom first and then the top. That was so I could get it out our back door when the time comes.
“I built so it was tall enough for Jaxon to stand in.”
After more than a full month of construction, the finished product was ready for Jaxon in September.
