Black Eyed Peas star will.i.am is the brains behind a major recycling initiative at the American Music Awards after taking his idea to find a use for used plastic bottles to Coca-Cola bosses.

The My Humps hitmaker came up with his idea while performing in South America and wondering what would become of all the bottles fans in the audience were tossing away.

He says, "I wanted to come up with a sustainable, aspirational project because so many of these recyclable projects are not the coolest, funkiest, freshest stuff.

"Coca-Cola is the perfect partner and we've been working really hard in making this a reality."

As part of his initiative, will.i.am helped create the AMAs' red carpet, made from used plastic bottles, and backstage furniture recycled from cardboard.

The AMAs are being held in Los Angeles on Sunday night (18Nov12).