Used water bottles as a construction material for refugee camps: In 2007, the architects from Instant in Zurich, Switzerland, were awarded the coveted „Red Dot Award" design prize for their idea. The concept is known as "United Bottle", and involves empty bottles of a new design, made from PET or PP (polypropylene), being removed from the normal recycling cycle where necessary and sent to crisis zones, where they are used to build huts. After they have been used in this way, the bottles can then be removed without without leaving a trace, and reused as beverage bottles or recycled.

This sustainable concept also impressed LANXESS in Singapore, and was consequently the first concept to which the company awarded the LANXESS price for product development, worth USD 7,500. The cash prize is intended to aid the winners in implementing their ideas. Often the costs that are bound up with commercialization, including protection of registered designs, prototypes and production, present an insurmountable obstacle for designers. In order to drive their project forward, the architects at Instant have already called upon potential consumers to develop ideas for further uses of the "United Bottle". The best suggestions were showcased in the Van Alen Institute in New York during March and April. They included an Ethiopian farmhouse and a bag for transporting empties, which can also be used as a stool when it is filled with bottles.