Lift, by Aurora Robson, is currently on exhibit at Rice University and is comprised of more than 9,000 discarded plastic bottles.

If only landfills had as much appeal as Lumenhouse owner Aurora Robson‘s art work. Her massive sculptures, built from consumer waste — often thousands of plastic bottles — provide an appealing alternative to the dump yard or our oceans.

Although it will take serious global policy shifts to thwart the wastefulness of disposable culture, Robson’s aesthetic sensibilities draw attention for action on this need. Originally, she worked in paintings on flat surfaces until one day she realized she could draw a connection to an issue she cared about while increasing the scale and impact of her art.

“While I was painting, I looked out my window at all this litter, and it was really bothering me,” she recalls. “Then I realized that these bottles have the same diaphanous features as my paintings.” And so we are graced with the giant installations that Bushwick seems to value so dearly. Her most recent work, on display in the lobby of Bloomberg LP, is a tornado of 5,000 inflated plastic garbage bags.