We need your help to create a community exhibit that will become part of the Running the Numbers exhibition.

Did you know that Americans consume two million plastic beverage bottles every five minutes nationwide?

In our charming city of Santa Barbara, we go through about 594 plastic beverage bottle tops in five minutes.

That number translates to 7,133 per hour or 171,203 per day or 5,136,089 every month.




UPDATE (as of August 2009): Thank you for your plastic bottle caps. Together we have collected more than 8,000 bottle caps and we are now creating our community exhibit. Can you tell what is becoming of our bottle tops? 

This evolving display uses a specific number of plastic bottle caps that represents the number of something Americans consumed. In this picture there are 680 bottle caps, which equals the number of pounds of paper an average American uses each year. This translates to about seven trees per person. Recycled paper uses less energy and can be made into paper towels, notebook papers, boxes and event cat litter.

Each week the display will grow as we add additional bottle caps representing interesting new facts about our society’s consumption habits. Join us all summer long to watch this community project grow, and discover what your bottle caps helped to create.

NOTE: We still need your help, so continue to collect plastic bottle caps and turn them in at the Museum. While you’re there, be sure to stop and visit the exhibition Running the Numbers: An American Self-Portrait by Chris Jordan. This exhibition translates statistics into artistic provocative photographic statements about the American society’s consumption habits