How one company is turning plastic bottles into art

To most people, discarded plastic bottles are a blight on the landscape. To Stuart Jones, however, they have the potential to be a unique canvas for landscapes or any other image you may want to conjure up. He is the founder of Co2nscience, a startup in West Yorkshire, UK, that recycles plastic bottles into works of art.

Jones' company converts plastic bottles into a stretchable felt-like material upon which photos can be printed. So far, Co2nscience has reused 13,750 discarded plastic bottles to make a first batch of Stretcher Prints. The results are quite stunning, as you can see in the video.

The company has launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise £12,000 ($20,000) and reuse 140,000 bottles. Why that specific number? Because we want to make enough Stretcher material to cover an entire football pitch, explains Jones on his kickstarter page.

The company currently uses 80% recycled polyester (rPET) and 20% virgin polyester, with the ultimate goal of using 100% rPET.

At the time of writing, almost £9000 ($15,000) had been pledged on kickstarter toward the £12,000 goal. The campaign closes on April 10 at 6 AM PDT.

If you want to be a patron of bottle art, you know what to do.

— Norbert Sparrow

Norbert Sparrow is Senior Editor at PlasticsToday. Follow him on twitter @norbertcsparrow and Google+.