Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Happy recyling!


Apparently only one of two plastic bottles are currently being recycled in Paris. To draw people's attention on this major situation(!) the city of Paris, the Coca Cola company and the Designpack gallery have teamed up and built several Christmas decorations out of plastic bottles. I chose to photograph two of the four big Christmas trees they installed at Place André Malraux in the 1st arrondissement. 1,300 bottles were necessary to make them. Really cool.

21 comments:

  1. Gosh I wish I had the tools to create something like that!!

    In San Jose, the city gives each house a small trash bin and a very large recycle bin. It really makes us think about what we are throwing away.

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  2. Place André Malraux is one of my favorite spots in Paris. Pissarro painted it numerous times. He lived in (what is now) Hotel du Louvre. There is a Pissarro suite.

    I love the recycling. Hey, LA PDPers, remember the sculptures on the walls at Lilly's? Many many plastic bottles converted to art.

    Ok, off to do some holiday shopping. (What? I have over a week left before Christmas! No worries!)

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  3. This is so ECO Logical! Grin(d) Xmas; Green Peace.

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  4. Such a cool effect! There seems to be so many interesting things happening in Paris, I bet you have trouble choosing what to post.

    I'm always surprised by the creativity of Parisians. This tree is gorgeous!

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  5. Nice idea, and really nice result!
    I wish everybody could take this recycling stuff ith serious...
    G'nite guys.

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  6. hmmmm... don't take this personally, but I can't say that I care for this "tree" a whole lot.

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  7. I'm ALL about recycling—and never surprised by the creativity of Parisians (toi inclus, Eric!). Monica, one more trip to Paris and you will be just as blasé as I am!
    (Just hope we're both there at the same time next time!)

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  8. that is so cool! our county now has mandatory clear garbage bags ( with tags we pay for ) if we try to throw away something recyclable, they wont pick up the garbage.
    i think its great
    ~laura

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  9. Good idea, good result, and good photo !

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  10. What a fantastic way to bring the situation to people's attention. I hope more people begin recycling because of this.

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  11. hi

    good idea about recycling..and im also like recycling because its can save our world

    cheers,
    hand blown glass vases

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  12. Wow, I love the way you've photographed these. It makes the lighted bottles and tree in the background look so pretty, and gives us a good peek at how they were assembled. Why am I craving Swedish fish all of sudden? :-)
    -Kim

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  13. Those are surprisingly beautiful! Is there city-sponsored recycling in Paris?

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  14. Very unique idea from Coca Cola! Thanks for capturing it on film, great pictures all around!

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  15. This is so neat that Paris is raising awareness about recycling- & so creatively too!

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  16. I love your posts! It makes me feel like I am in Paris every day. =)

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  17. One of the US national newscasts had a segment about this recently. So cool.

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  18. If Marcel Duchamp is looking down from heaven and can see this photo, I bet he is really pleased. We have really taken Dada to a global political level. Your photo is keeping in step with the Copenhagen Summit. I must compliment you on your choice of a photo, intentional or not intentional. I love the crushed green bottles. Very pretty. Just how big are these trees?

    Jeff, Merci for the information on Pissarro. I knew his great grand son when I was in art school in NYC. He was a sculpture and painter. He did a Sphinx sculpture of me for his semester assignment. After he finished art school, he went back to Portugal to live on the family's estate. He had a nice large studio in NYC, but he wasn't really impressed with NYC or the US for that matter. He wanted to go back to Europe. He gave me a small painting before he left, but I had to sell it to pay my rent. I never saw Pissarro again. He is probably a grand father now. He wanted to get married when I knew him. We were in our early 20's then. His name always brings back fond memories.

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  19. Lois: It seems I'm finding Pissarro's paintings of Place André Malraux all over the place. We have one in Minneapolis, there's one at Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

    More accurately, Pissarro painted Place du Théâtre Francais, which is, I believe, now named Place Colette, and is right next to Place André Malraux.

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  20. Anybody else having trouble loading this blog today or just me?

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  21. I want this Christmas Tree! I should have been saving all of my bottles and cans this year in order to make my own recycled Christmas decor. Awesome picture Eric!

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