Pop Bottle Planters

Just to to see other young people from a distance country of the world (Canada), developing a project like yours!

Sólo para que vean a otros jóvenes de un país distante (Canadá), desarrollando un proyecto como el de ustedes!

TEA Pop Bottle Planters

STEPS Initiative (Sustainable Thinking and Expression on Public Space) 

The Toronto Emerging ARTivists (STEPS' youth-led arts collective) has launched an Eco ARTivism initiative, beginning with the unveiling a community mural and a pop bottle planter installation, during National Youth Arts Week 2014. Young people from Toronto's Thorncliffe and Flemingdon Park communities have been collecting and upcycling plastic pop bottles into beautiful installations made up of a series of pop-bottle planters.Chained together and hoisted on a large wall, these installations have begun to be displayed on high impact walls within the community, beginning with the entrance-way to the East York Town Centre, which serves as the neighbourhood’s central gathering space, challenge community members to re-imagine the environmental and aesthetic impact of littering.Made out of repurposed trash, these planters and the living organisms within them, are designed to grow year-round, improve indoor ventilation, add a touch of greenery and beauty to often sterile public spaces, and convey to the wider community that “trash” can be repurposed into something beautiful and functional.The installations are accompanied by explanations about the intention behind the work, and information on local environmental issues, including the impact of recycling and upcycling.This project has not only drawn attention to the littering problems that face some of Toronto’s most underserved communities, but has increased environmental awareness and educated Torontonians of all ages about the environmental impact of their actions, as well as how they can take ownership and action to improve their community. It has also provided leadership and skill development opportunities, through a peer-mentorship model, as well as engaged many young people in the growing environmental arts activism movement. The East York Town Centre who was kind enough to host the first installation and the initiative’s launch event in spring 2014.