West Columbia art installment makes statement about single-use plastic

There's a new art installment in West Columbia that's making a statement about the impact single-use plastic has in our world.

West Columbia, S.C. (WOLO) — There’s a new art installment in West Columbia that’s making a statement about the impact single-use plastic can have on the environment.

“If you’re down at the Riverwalk and you’re looking at this beautiful scenery, you’re going to come across a giant bottle made out of plastic bottles which, generally would be litter,” said Anna Huffman, Communications and Technology Director with the City of West Columbia.

“There’s roughly 12,000 bottles in this project,” said local artist Karl L. Larsen, who’s behind the statue’s creation.

The “Bottle Project, 3 Seconds…and Counting” statue aims to make people stop and think about their use of plastic, recycling, and littering.

“Ultimately, that’s the whole idea of a project like this. To get people to think and to see what they can do to solve the issue,” said Larsen.

Larsen partnered with the City of West Columbia to bring the interactive art piece to life.

“I wanted that wow factor, I wanted to scale it up so large that you could walk into it, you could sit down. And purposely restrict and obstruct your view in a natural space,” said Larsen.

“It’s placed here so that you can go into the bottle and look out over the river and reflect on your use and consumption of single-use plastic,” said Huffman.

Larsen said he hopes his creation make an impact.

“I think as an artist, I think that’s our job. To find ways to use our hands and use our minds to convey messages so that people can see and leave with an experience and say ‘wow, that touched me. I’m going to think about this a little more,’” he said.

It takes hundreds of years for one bottle to decompose, so this statue will be around for awhile.

“Somebody had asked me whether it was going to be a permanent or a temporary structure; I said ‘well, it’ll be here for at least 400, 450 years. So you tell me,’” said Larsen.

Larsen also sent the following statement:

“In order to come to grips with our insatiable desire for convenience-based plastics and other harmful products and packaging, we must reflect on our personal consumption habits and waste practices. Right now, our methods of combating the irrevocable damage plastics have on our natural spaces, drinking water, wildlife and ultimately, to ourselves are strictly reactive and, as a result, rendered ineffective.

To find the solution, we must be proactive. We must take personal responsibility for what we purchase. We must look at our consumption in a new way because this “out of sight, out of mind” attitude we have about our waste over the last five decades is what’s got here. Recycling is not the answer. It has never been the answer. We need to see our waste and frankly, it needs to be thrown back in our faces. By scaling up a common single-use plastic bottle, I wanted to do just that. I wanted to purposefully obstruct and restrict the view of a natural area yet design a thoughtful concept that allows for personal reflection and contemplation. To be consumed by that which you consume. That’s what this is about.

The nearly 12,000 single-use plastic bottles used to create this sculpture were all sourced locally. So local, they were pulled from the banks in which this sculpture rests… the day of installation. My hope with this project is for it to allow us to rethink how we consume; for it to spark conversation and harbor collaboration in efforts to curb or eliminate single-use convenience-based plastic products and packaging from our lives for a cleaner future for generations to come.”

The statue will be at the Riverwalk in West Columbia for at least the next six months, and all are welcome to check it out.