It’s no longer the wonder material that it was once thought to be and we’re told over and over again to choose more earth friendly alternatives, and yet PET plastic – also known as PolyEthylene Terephtalate, PETE or #1 -- has become as ubiquitous to our society as sliced bread. Even though it’s now officially the bane of Mother Nature’s existence, it sure has become indispensable, whether used to line food jars or make countless types of beverage containers, frozen food dinner trays, car parts, carpet fibers, plastic lumber, clothing, shoes, belts and thermal insulation. Like the American Express card, it really is everywhere (that we want to be), but the big problem is that it’s in too many places that it shouldn’t be…like the middle of the ocean, in the stomachs of millions upon millions of dead or starving wildlife species, pulsing through our bodies in the form of hormone-like endocrine system disrupters, or hogging up precious landfill space for several hundred years until fully decomposed.
Another big problem with PET plastic is that several billion year old deposits of petroleum are used to create it. This may seem like no big deal in theory, but if you dig below the surface, you soon learn that the entire manufacturing process wreaks a great deal of havoc on our ecosystem. Simply just extracting the oil – in many cases via drilling deep within the seafloor – generates a high volume of pollutants (especially in the case of oil fires) and then once it’s converted into multiple components like fuel oil, gas and plastic, the refining process yields even more volatile compounds. To create PET plastic, crude oil-extracted hydrocarbons are mixed with chemical catalysts and voila – the resulting material polymerizes into a transparent, opaque and in some cases white material that is lightweight, durable, partially rigid to extremely rigid and resistant to impact. It’s then pelletized, melted down and -- depending on the application -- poured into special molds, or spun in a complex process. What you get in the end is one big chemically-impregnated final product that is bad news to humans, animals and our planet.
But we have a lot of it lying around in our landfills, on the shelves of our grocery stores (ahem….the bottled water industry slurps up 17 million barrels of oil for their shiny clear packaging) and the sad reality is that roughly four-fifths of the PET plastic that is currently in circulation is made out of virgin rather than recycled material (according to the National Association for PET Container Resources). Committing to using alternative containers that require fewer resources to create/generate less pollution is one way to make a positive impact, or you can follow Gülnur Özdağlar’s lead by upcycling discarded plastic in a way that elevates it to the status of shimmering phoenix.
If you think that I’m exaggerating with my choice of words, just look at what the architect-turned PET recycling artist has done with the bits of plastic that have passed through her hands. “Inspired” and “otherworldly” are two additional and totally appropriate words that come to mind when poring over her portfolio. By creating attention-grabbing pieces that compel people to “want to wear or exhibit them”, Özdağlar highlights the value of recycling, making it an activity that should be aspired to consistently.
Her technique involves locating a vast assortment of different colored reclaimed PET plastic containers and then heating the material so it’s pliable, cutting it into the desired shapes, melting it to create various visual effects and then drilling tiny holes into the pieces so they can be stringed together or used in a utilitarian manner.
From quirky looking buttons and dreamy plastic flower petals to jelly fish like bowls and delicate floral necklaces, earrings, rings and brooches, Özdağlar’s Tertium Non Data collection is impossibly delectable to behold in spite of its earth-wrecking origins. She is the first artist I’ve encountered in a very long time who takes the concept of upcycling to a truly supreme level, and I hope that she receives the exposure and sales that she so rightfully deserves. If imitation is really the most sincere form of flattery, I’ll keep my fingers crossed that everyone who reads this article goes home tonight, rifles through their recycling pile and creates some of their very own Tertium Non Data-inspired PET treasures.
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