TERRACYCLE NEWS

ELIMINATING THE IDEA OF WASTE®

An Abraham Lincoln portrait made of cigarette butts and a dress made of Dorito's bags. Must be a TerraCycle show.

TerraCycle Include USA “Scrapped” Art Exhibit
An upcycled art exhibit? Everyone knows about recycling, but what IS upcycling, anyway? Nicole Kim, who works at TerraCycle, a global recycling company headquartered in Trenton, explains: "The difference is, recycling is taking the old material and turning it into a new function... a function that's not recognizable from what it was. Upcycling is keeping the form, but changing the function as well," she said. So the pleasing portrait of a president, upon closer inspection is in fact a large number of discarded and disgusting cigarette butts. And another piece, something that looks like a richly textured oil painting from across the room, is actually 80% composed of collected ocean plastics. Lincoln and other pieces are on display at "Scrapped," a show that runs through April 13, 2019 at the BSB Gallery in Trenton. - Photos by Michael Mancuso, NJ Advance Media. A detail shot of "Lincoln, The Sustainable Republican," by EdE Sinkovics. Made of cigarette butts, tobacco pellets, glue. "The Dirt of Venus," by EdE Sinkovics. 80% collected ocean plastics on wood.
Detail of "The Dirt of Venus."
Some of the magic of Paris is captured in this work, even if closer inspection reveals the banality of its components. "Eiffel Tower" by Valentine Michelet-Marrec.    
Eiffel Tower is made of pens and glue.
"Madam Capsule," by EdE Sinkovics. Made of post-consumer coffee capsules, pufoam and glue.
"Madam Capsule," positioned on top of "Metal Barrel," by Nick Palchanes.
TerraCycle was founded in 2001 by Tom Szaky. The company operates in 21 countries across five lines of business. It is headquartered in Trenton's north ward, off New York Avenue. Graffiti-like slogans scrawled across the exterior walls include "OUTSMART WASTE" "REUSE UPCYCLE RECYCLE" and "ZERO WASTE." "TerraCycle wanted to partner with BSB Gallery because of our mutual love for Trenton," Kim said. "It was compiled from a bunch of different sources but the artwork was all sourced from our office. Everything was really created from waste. Upcycled clothing on loan from The TerraCycle Collection. Textiles made from recycled plastic chip bags, candy wrappers, juice pouches & more. Yep, those are Dorito's bags.
The artwork at the top, "Potential," by Lisa Pelligrino. Made of liquor bottles and caps.
"On display at the gallery at the moment I have plastic dolls, figurines. I have  cigarette butts. I have used, found liquor bottles. I have Nestle's wrappers. I have used beach plastic. So I really wanted to curate something that had sort of a shock factor a little bit to it," Aine Mickey, curator at BSB Gallery, said. "I also worked with two separate artists to create site-specific installations," she said. "That way if you have seen something TerraCycle has done in the past, (art exhibits) there's still something fresh and something new here."
    One of the site-specific installations is titled "Streets Keep Callin," a mixed media concept by Leon Rainbow, Stickers and tags by various artists. Painted and installed by Leon Rainbow and Brendon Lopez.     The other site-specific installation occupies a bank vault in the gallery, which is in the former Broad Street Bank building. "Green Palace," a showcase of three-dimensional shapes incorporating upcycled materials by Heemin Moon in collaboration with Dororthy McNee.               The former Broad Street Bank building, at 143 East State St., now houses the BSB Gallery. "Scrapped" runs through April 13, 2019. Hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays. The gallery is hosting a closing reception on Friday, April 12, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m