“I’m the owner of The Bottle Houses on Prince Edward Island. This business was founded by my father 25 years ago. And in the course of those years the business has grown, and it has far more visitors than when it started.

It started after I sent my father a postcard from an attraction I had visited on Vancouver Island. He liked it a lot and he said, “If they can do that over there, I can do it over here.”

At that time, there was no recycling in our region, except for “soft liquor” bottles and beer bottles. Every week my father took his old truck around the community, and picked up bottles from dance clubs and restaurants.

70% of consumers believe that glass packaging suggests quality.

Then people heard about his project, so they started bringing in their own bottles. When my father passed away, my mother was also quite elderly at that time, so I bought the business from her.

The Bottle Houses are three houses built out of recycled bottles. Between 25 and 30 thousand were cemented together to create 3 buildings. The tourist route passes right in front of the houses.

Glass is 100% recyclable and can be endlessly recycled with no loss in quality.

What makes my business unique is that my father built something beautiful out of something that was bound for the garbage dump.

We have an average of 12,000 visitors who come by during the summer. People from Quebec represent about 30% of our market. The Atlantic provinces are next with 20, 25%. New England in the US would be our other principal market.

To make sure people know the attraction exists, each year I take out ads in the provincial visitors’ guide. I’ve also been noticed by different media outlets over the years. The houses have been in publications like Ripley’s Believe it or Not. They are also in a book called A Thousand Places to See Before You Die. These are all forms of advertising I could never buy.”