How Flow began?

In 2008 I had a solo exhibition at Umbrella Studio Contemporary Arts in Townsville titled Chain Reaction.  My aim was to experiment by combining upcycled materials and effects like domino effect, virtuous cycle and fractals.  Whilst I was creating one of the artworks titled Ripple Effect from thousands of recycled plastic lids for the exhibition, I knew and wanted to really extend the use of this medium further. 

 

By minimising and placing the white lids all together with one single red lid, I felt was very statement depicted my aim, the power of one.

Photograph by Aaron Ashley

I then began collecting more plastic lids from soft drink and milk bottles from family, friends and local community then began to join them together, with the same message of one different coloured lid.  I was surprised and pleased to find the fabric like form the joined lids took. 

Are lids/caps recyclable?

From my understanding, no they are not.  A few years ago when speaking to Visy, I found out that plastic lids are not recycled.  One explanation I found for this recently is:

I am a recycle center supervisor in Traverse City. Lids cannot be recycled on water bottles (or any #1 plastic bottle) because the lids are not made out of #1 plastic. Therefore the lids cause contamination while the bottles are being recycled. unlike #2 plastic, #1 plastic, known as PET, can't have contaminants in it when it is recycled. (#2 can generally tolerate small amounts, such as lids, without destroying an entire batch) An entire batch of PET can be destroyed by just a little contamination.

The Plastic Pollution Coalition has a great site full of useful information at http://plasticpollutioncoalition.org/learn/basic-concepts/

Some of their tips are:

Refuse
Say NO to disposable plastics! 

Reduce
Reduce your plastic footprint: buy in bulk, choose products with the least packaging, look for products and packaging made from renewable resources, and avoid plastic packaging and containers. Choose products that have the least amount of disposable parts.

Reuse
Reuse preferably nontoxic (glass, stainless steel) containers and goods to make less waste.

Recycle
Recycle what you can’t refuse, reduce or reuse. Recycling is a last option because it uses energy, and there may not be a market for the refabricated materials.

Upcycled term?
I prefer to use the term 'upcycled' as Wikipedia explains: 'Upcycling is the process of converting waste materials or useless products into new materials or products of b etter quality or a higher environmental value.'