2024, vitrified PEM glass made from recycled waste through plasma gasification process & refired

7.5 H x 2.25 W

$400

The Relics series are objects that mimic the Coke bottles from my childhood, when I remember drinking a lot of Coca-Cola from the now infamous coke-bottle green six- and one-half ounce returnable glass bottles. The last of these Coke bottles was produced in 2012 after an 80-year production run, and those bottles are now a collectors item from bygone days. These Relics are made from kiln-fired vitrified PEM glass, or plasma enhanced melter glass, which is a byproduct of plasma gasification, an advanced waste management technology developed at MIT in the early 1990s to address nuclear waste. When waste material enters the plasma gasification chamber and is exposed to extreme temperatures, it breaks down to its molecular elements. It turns almost any kind of trash, from plastic bottles to car bodies, into inert, non-toxic glass and clean fuels. Since plastic production began in the 1950s, humans have produced an estimated 9.1 billion tons of plastic, while it is estimated that less than one-tenth of that has ever been recycled. PEM glass as an art material represents a profound paradigm shift in using a little-known yet proven technology to remediate environmental degradation through keeping waste out of landfills, plastic out of oceans and waterways, and greenhouse gases out of the air.