There are one too many water bottles around, and now there's finally a way to put them to good use. This time, in the form of disaster housing.

The Home20 at the New York Institute of Technology's School of Architecture and Design used a custom plastic pallet into crushed plastic bottles and they create things like roof tiles. The surface is fully covered and waterproof.

The plastic pallet could be used to deliver goods and would last for around 60 trips compared to the normal wooden pallet's 8 trips.

If a disaster strikes, the old and beaten up pallets could be donated and then taken apart to construct shelters. According to Home20:
“When disaster did strike, a warehouse manager would just choose one of our more beaten-up pallets with which to deliver water bottles for relief, and consider that a tax write-off... We’re trying to develop a relief system that delivers critically needed water, but turns into another resource to plug into local knowledge and local expertise. The pallet could be broken apart and lashed to bamboo structures, earth structures, or even lumber structures made from disaster materials like 2x4s that have been strewn to the side.”
The best part is that the roof doesn't need fasteners or tools to construct and the team behind it says it can provide disaster victims with a small sense of independence as well as shelter.  [Kickstarter]