The jug’s creator did not undertake to repair his work and fill the gaps left by the bottles, so this unique construction had to be said goodbye to. Its task had been fulfilled. During the two Glina Show parades, the four-metre vessel was one of the most frequently photographed objects and conveyed an important idea: what we can do with waste as people responsible for the environment. The 440 bottles that the creator incorporated into the construction were the amount his family collected over a year while buying mineral water. Waldemar Cieślak dedicated the jug to his mother, who was seriously ill while it was being built.
The recycling jug symbolised Joppe’s work from 1753, an attraction of pre-war Bolesławiec considered the largest vessel in the world. From 1753, Master Joppe’s 600-kilogram vessel, 2.15 m high and with a capacity of almost 2,000 litres, was a showcase of Bolesławiec. It appeared on postcards; small souvenir replicas of the jug could be bought; one confectionery made a cake in its shape; and in 1879, writer Kart T. Pfautz wrote a play featuring the large jug in the leading role. The jug could be visited—people could enter it—after paying an admission fee. The future US president John Quincy Adams, travelling around Europe in 1800, took advantage of the opportunity to visit it. The jug disappeared in 1945—it may have been destroyed by Red Army soldiers.
On 4 March 2021, the plastic-and-polystyrene eco-jug reaching the end of its life formed part of the Eco Art trend—recycling art intended to remind consumer society what it produces and how much it throws away.
We thank the Municipal Communal Services Company for caring for the jug and helping to recycle it. Below are photographs of the jug from 2018 and 2019 during the Glina Show parades.
