Who wants bottles and cans when thereāsĀ #1 PET plastics?
I have endless stories about my experiences in creating Recycled BeautyĀ photos. Most are hysterical. Iām fairly certain, this scenario will give you aĀ good hearty laugh. Here goes a story about sorting through bottles and cans in search of #1 PET plastic.Ā
I was in need of lots, lots and lots of #1 PET plastics for a photo illustrating that recovered #1 PET plastic is made intoĀ Repreve fabric and products. As with any Recycled Beauty photo, visual variety is crucial. Showing diversity among brands, shapes and sizes is a means to catch more peoplesā familiarity with what #1 PET plastic actually is. Plastic bottles is the most common use but #1 PET is also vegetable containers and some bathroom products.Ā
Some people get weird when strangers sort through their recyclables. I get it / I donāt get it. Anyway, I figured devouring a neighborhood with a high set-out rate of recycle bins in the middle of the night before collection day was my best bet for reaching the largest selection and volume of free #1 PET plastic.Ā
It was midnight. My neighbor joined the adventure for fun but also safety. Doing this kind of thing seemed normal and in-character for me. Whereas, he was in hysterics most of the time calling his friends reporting our latest findings. That made me ponder perhaps this was more weird than I thought. I smiled for the weirdness and felt satisfied that I was on task and getting what I needed.Ā Ā
We decided to hit one more strip of hours, after two hours of rummaging through recyclables. All of a sudden a guy yelled at us from about 2 houses down saying,Ā āI have a ton of cans over here if you want themā. I yelled back saying,Ā āThanks, but weāre actually looking for #1 PET plasticsā. Silence. That made me laugh hysterically. Okay, maybe it was more weird than I realized.Ā
It was fun searching for such innocuous material like bandits in the middle of the night. Itās not that rummaging through discarded waste is my big dream. Rather, I find theĀ treasure hunt for the most obscure shaped containers that fit within the #1 PET plastic criteria to be thrilling. More importantly, it was the thought of all that pre-production fun leading up to creating a captivating photo could inspire / educate / change peoplesā recycling habits. That's awesome! Seriously, who wants bottles and cans when thereās #1 PET plastics?Ā Ā
Stay tuned to hear a story about the making of the #1 PET photo...Ā
Please take a look at the Recycled Beauty portfolio. Itād be great to hear whatĀ you think!Ā