I find them bobbing in the waves and half buried in the sand. This collection of images features plastic gasoline containers I have found at the Falls of the Ohio State Park. Over the years, enough gas cans have washed up here that a regular visitor such as myself can’t help but notice them.
I wonder how did these objects made it into the river in the first place? And, how far have they traveled? I have never found one that still had gas in it…and I’m thinking or hoping that these cans were empty before they were left to their fates. Perhaps a strong wind blew them into the water or they just fell off un-noticed by boaters?
I can’t say that there is a tremendous variety of forms to be found. For the most part they are fairly consistant. All the ones I have come across have been made of plastic and it surprises me that I haven’t seen any metal containers. Maybe the older ones eventually rust out and sink?
Here’s one that I found in the driftwood after a spell of high water that is finding a new use as a mosquito farm! I dump out any containers I find with standing water in them. Mosquitoes don’t need more encouragement.
I know it’s the dire warnings written in high relief letters along the sides that catches me. It’s that potential for danger that these containers suggest in not so subtle language…” Danger extremely flammable / Vapors can explode / Harmful or fatal if swallowed”. What I don’t see is a warning that over reliance on fossil fuels can lead to other kinds of danger!
This one is unusual! It’s the only gasoline “jug” that I have come across. Despite its friendly shape, it still has the same strong warnings.
This ones red color is fading. Probably exposed to sunlight over a long period of time. Which brings me to the plastic. Will the sun eventually weaken the plastic bonds making them brittle or are these plastic containers resistant to that? Will they eventually become part of the aggregate that makes up the soil and sand?
I know that some of the resins used to make plastic are extracted from petroleum. We then use plastic containers to hold gasoline which is also refined from petroleum. It seems a bit redundant like putting margarine made from corn oil on hot corn-on-the-cob.
Ok, so I tricked you with this one! It’s still a petrochemical container used to hold another petrochemical substance…kerosine! Still promises as much danger as the gas cans.
I have sited many of my Styrofoam (polystyrene) figures near gasoline containers I’ve come across. Here’s a Styro-dog from this year.
A couple of years ago I made this large figure that had a collection of plastic containers I found in the immediate area of the sculpture. The gas can is front and center!
Another figure, this time a small one made from blue insulating foam and posed next to its cousin…afterall hydrocarbons are thicker than water.
Artist at Exit 0 Riverblog 
Petrolium products—long ago I played in chemistry labs in college. Have just a little experience with fundamental chemister can be very eye-opening regarding plastics and other ‘toxic’ elements. One discovery was that I physically reacted very negatively to the ‘vapors’ given off during experiments with a number of substances. Allergic reactions literally drove me out of any further pursuit of hands on science. –I find even the smell of gasoline difficult to tolerate. As for plastic containters–the embodiement of a certain sort of ‘evil’ in our habitat on a huge scale.
This is a great visual post in many ways. Thanks.
47whitebuffalo…I think you get what I got from doing this collection of gas containers. It’s such a sign of the petroleum driven times we live in. I’m amazed at how many of these containers I have come across. Your allergic reaction was your body talking sense to you! Thanks for your comment!
I have noticed many comments as to how this stuff ends up in the river. I grew up living pretty far from the Ohio river on a small creek called Little Hurricane creek. That little creek emptied into the Kanawha River which meets up with the Ohio River at Pt. Pleasant, WV.
When you get a hard rain in a hilly place like West Virginia, the water, of course, runs down hill, filling up the roadside ditches, little hollows and streams causing the bigger creeks to become swollen and muddy very quickly. Those creeks overflow their banks and take anything that happens to be in the way with them.
Litter that people have thrown out the window along the road, toys that have been left too close to the creek, all kinds of objects end up in the water this way. My husband even lost a boat this way…never to be seen again, by us anyway.
Then of course there are the people who spend time in the outdoors and just dont bother picking up after themselves. Years of fishing and walking in places other people have used has taught me to take a bag specifically just for trash. Most popular items are empty night crawler and chicken liver containers, pop cans and bottles. Recently at Brooksburg, I found a very nice big bucket that still had baitfish in it. No people anywhere, but this bucket with freshly dead baitfish and a styrofoam cooler, an empty beer carton and plenty of bottles and cans.