(TDB) - In a world of waste any attempt to reduce and reuse should be applauded, which makes the following bottle-based constructions not only impressive works of art, but eco-friendly landmarks.

With millions of bottles discarded everyday, it makes sense for such waste to be given a second lease of life, rather than risk it ending up in a landfill. The bottle’s proclivity for construction has not gone unnoticed. In fact, the use of bottles in construction dates back to ancient Rome, when discarded Amphorae would often be embedded in concrete to form solid foundations.

However the use of glass bottles to construct buildings only really started to take off in the early 20th century. The first bottle house was built in 1902 by William Peck. Constructed out of 10,000 beer bottles scavenged from saloons, the home comprised of a one-story, 16×20 feet dwelling with five rooms. Thought to be the first of its kind, Peck’s bottle house was demolished in the early 1980s.

Since then, the art of bottle construction has been taken up by imaginative architects the world over, who have used beer, whisky, Champagne and wine bottles to craft extraordinary spaces. While brilliant examples of ingenuity, they also raise debate over how the drinks industry might better contribute to environmentally-friendly initiatives to dispose of the millions of bottles it produces each year.

Click through for our pick of some of the world’s best bottle houses…