A wave-like sculpture mimics the surface of the adjacent sea in Aarhus, Denmark in an abstract composition made with over 70,000 reclaimed plastic bottle caps. Indian artist Arunkumar HG created ‘Droppings and the Dam(n)’ for the Sculpture by the Sea festival, a summer event on the Danish coast bringing dozens of artists together to display large-scale installations in a beautiful natural environment.
The bottle caps are arranged around a steel base, with the blue representing water and sky and additional colors seeming to suggest ships and a landscape on the horizon. The sculpture is a commentary on our wasteful society, which prizes convenience over sustainability. “There is a huge imbalance in between our sustainable ecology and our contemporary living practices,” says the artist.
Arunkumar spent two years amassing enough bottle caps to complete the project, saying he tries to find new uses for everything that’s generally thought of as disposable. “I keep collecting all the junk around me all the time,” he explains on his website.
Whether collected from consumers or salvaged from the dump, glass bottles, plastic bottles and bottle caps can be used to create some pretty incredible things. For example, artist Mary Ellen Croteau uses caps to produce surprisingly realistic portraits. Bottles can even be used as the main building material for entire structures, from houses to schools.


