Houses Made of Plastic Bottle - Jasmine Zimmerman's Bumbershoot Art (GALLERY)

Based on statistics from the Container Recycling Institute, Americans throw away about 70 million bottles a day. Of this number, only 10 million are properly recycled which makes plastic waste a big problem.

Motivated to make a statement about the need to recycle plastic bottles, internationally exhibited American artist Jasmine Zimmerman created the Plastic Bottle House, an open-roofed greenhouse made entirely of recycled plastic bottles. Her goal was to build a community through creative social and educational collaboration which transforms an overlooked material that harms our planet. Zimmerman says “Americans will drink more than 30 billion single-serving bottles of water this year alone. In 2009, she predicts we will throw out more than two million tons of polyethylene terephthalate plastic bottles, a byproduct of our everyday convenience.”

The Bottle House, which was part of the Seattle’ Music and Art Festival, Bumbershoot 2008, is an expression Zimmerman’ hopes will encourage recycling. She intends to display the greenhouse in various places in New York such as empty lots, parks, rooftops and vacant buildings to inspire more people.