Eco Factor: Structures created from recycled plastic bottles encourage youth to kick single use plastic water bottles.
Drinking bottled water might keep you in good shape, but the millions of water bottles discarded every day in landfills are spoiling the shape of the environment. To encourage people to stop using plastic water bottles, American eco-artist Tim Gaudreau has created a monster shoe out of 3000 plastic bottles hot glued together. While the water bottles make the sole and the body of the shoe, 300 old plastic bags were woven in the shoelace.
The art was a part of the “Give Plastic the Boot” campaign to strongly advocate recycling and reducing use of single use bottles. The designer hopes to display the shoe on college campuses to encourage youth to use tap water.
The Dark Side:
Once the shoe has been exhibited in various places, keeping it intact would be hard for the eco-artist. Sooner or later the bottles and the plastic bags will eventually reach the nearest landfill and this time in more concentration.
Via: GreenMuze
Comments
An informational note in response to your dark side comment: The piece is quite solid and not susceptible to falling apart. It was actually designed as a permanent piece of art for the Timberland Company, thus should not be returned to the waste stream in any concentration. If it were to be discarded, it is entirely recyclable. I would expect the boot to be shredded, pelletized and recycled into more plastic rather than sit in a landfill. In my region, tens of thousands of plastic bottles bypass recycling daily and end up in the local landfill. My work strongly advocates for reducing our consumption of these single-use convenience items and increasing our recycling of the plastic that is used. I take great care to create work that has the least impact possible.