In the early 1960's, during a vacation in the Caribbean, one of Heineken's brewers noticed two major problems: the beaches were covered with discarded beer bottles and the people didn't have reasonably-priced building materials. Seeking to kill two birds with one stone, Heineken created the "world bottle" (WOBO), also known as "the brick that holds beer." Basically a rectangular-shaped beer bottle, world bottles were designed to fit comfortably end-to-end, making it possible to make walls, doors, and windows without cutting the bottles.

Although Heineken made a small production run of the world bottles, they were never released to the public. Today, only two WOBO structures exist: a shed on the Heineken estate and a wall at the Heineken museum in Amsterdam. However, even though the world bottle never went into production, other people have found a way to turn left over Heineken bottles into livable structures.

Using one million discarded Heineken and Chang beer bottles, Buddhist monks in Sisaket, Thailand constructed the Wat Pa Maha Chedi Kaew monastery. A beautiful, graceful structure, it shows that there really is no limit to what a recycling program can accomplish!