Our Future?
All I See Is Plastic...
INDN 241 Project Three
The issue being researched: Single-Use Plastics
Single-use plastics are pieces of plastics that are made to be thrown out with the intention of being convenient, over durable. This becomes an issue in our society as we are quickly heading into the downfall of being a throw-away society.
Examples of single-use plastics
- Plastic bread bag tags
- Plastic bottles
- Styrofoam takeaway containers
- Straws
- Plastic packaging materials
- Plastic cutlery
- Plastic Bags
Their lack of an end in their lifecycle
Disposable plastic items don't biodegrade. They just break down into micro-particles that contaminate our environment. Microplastics, smaller plastic particles that result from single-use plastic breaking down, pollute our water sources and even our food. Only 9% of plastic waste gets recycled.
https://www.greenpeace.org/africa/en/blogs/14052/everything-you-should-know-about-single-use-plastic/
Their Addition to Climate Change
- Because single-use plastic is produced from fossil fuels, the process of extracting and creating these plastics emits huge amounts of greenhouse gases.
- It is estimated that just the extraction of these fossil fuels and their transportation to plastic factories emits 12.5 to 1.5 million metric tons of greenhouse gases.
- The refinement of plastics emits an additional 184 to 213 million metric tons of greenhouse gases each year.
- Landfills, where thrown out single-use plastics are sent, account for over 15% of methane emissions. The disposal of more plastics to landfills leads to increases in landfill size and these emissions.
What does the future look like because of single use plastic?
Because plastics are lighter than many materials, by volume it is estimated they may use up to 20% of landfill space. Approximately 252,000 tonnes of plastic waste is disposed of to NZ landfills each year (based on 8% of 3.156 million tonnes of waste to landfill). Much of this is packaging from imported goods.
https://www.recycle.co.nz/problemsize.php#:~:text=Because%20plastics%20are%20lighter%20than,is%20packaging%20from%20imported%20goods.
Due to their convienece over repeated usability, single use plastics are more often than not heading straight to landfill after a single use. This becomes an issue when it comes to the space avaiable in landfills. For example Rubbish piling into Wellington Southern Landfill, with a large portion if it being plastics, is reaching the brim with as little as four years left until it's full.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/453134/decision-on-future-of-wellington-landfill-at-critical-point
And do you know how how long it takes for a single use plastic like PET(commonly used for single use plastic waterbottles) to biodegrade? "Both processes are dependent on bacteria that consume and breakdown waste into simple matter. But PET is made with chemicals that bacteria cannot consume. That is not to say that plastics can't breakdown, they do, but it takes a long time; plastic bottles take up to 450 years to decompose in landfill."
https://www.savemoneycutcarbon.com/learn-save/how-long-does-it-take-for-plastic-to-biodegrade/#:~:text=Both%20processes%20are%20dependent%20on,years%20to%20decompose%20in%20land%EF%AC%81ll.
That means most single use plastic are going to be around much longer than we will be. Therefore the more single use plastics being produced and disposed of after a single use, then the more plastic will be present in the future.
What people are currently doing about the issues
Iris Van Herpan creating Haute couture garments out of recycled sea plastics.
https://www.dezeen.com/2021/02/05/iris-van-herpen-haute-couture-dress-recycled-ocean-plastic/
https://www.designerzcentral.com/blog/people-and-parties/fashion-news/iris-van-herpen-recycles-plastic-waste-into-sculptural-garments/
https://thursd.com/articles/iris-van-herpen-recycles-plastic-waste-into-sculptural-garments
How New Zealand is tackling plastic pollution
After banning plastic bags in 2020, New Zealand now proposes to regulate single-use plastic packaging and ban various hard-to-recycle plastics and single-use plastic items.
Circular Lifecycles
Many people are adopting more of a 'circular lifecycle'.
"Regarding circular economy, it is make more efficient and sustainable products. Reduce, reuse, and recycle".
https://www.igi-global.com/dictionary/circular-life-cycle/81183
It eliminates the need for single-use plastics and as a result, the amount of single-use plastics ending up in landfills is decreased. As more people start to implement small changes to work towards a circular lifecycle, bigger corporations will respond. Think about cafes trying to encourage keep cups, or companies switching over to the cardboard and compostable packaging in an effort to respond to the market.
France: Government Bans Single-Use Plastic Packaging for Various Perishable Products
On January 1, 2022, a ban on single-use plastic packaging for the sale of approximately 30 types of fruits and vegetables took effect in France. The ban serves to implement part of a February 2020 law aimed at fighting against waste and promoting a circular economy.
https://www.loc.gov/item/global-legal-monitor/2022-01-18/france-government-bans-single-use-plastic-packaging-for-various-perishable-products/#:~:text=Article%20France%3A%20Government%20Bans%20Single,vegetables%20took%20effect%20in%20France.
Radical proposed ideas
An editorial-style shoot using nonvirgin materials that showcase a larger issue. My non-virgin materials being single-use plastics in the form of PET plastic (plastic waterbottles), and single-use plastic packaging. The issue being addressed is single use plastics and the future we are heading towards because of it.
For my project, I'm putting more of an emphasis on the images rather than the product itself. The design intervention is more just to make people think about what kind of future we want to be heading towards.
I don't plan to take images of my project by itself, because the model itself isn't really my whole project but its part of how it's worn and what it represents.
A statement piece about the future we’re heading in due to our overuse and production of single use plastics.
Minimum
- Use of virgin materials
- Impact on the environment due to the creation of no new materials
- Preventing single-use plastic from ending up in landfill quicker
Maximum
- Uniqueness
- Message/ Increasing awareness
- Visual narratives
- Increasing the lifecycle of single-use materials
Experimentation
Potential ideas: Heat gun, visual quality, adding another material(old clothes from op shops)?
Devlopment of Ideas/Concept
Finding disposed of soft plastics. Some Plastic like the pudding cups were too hard to work with. The best plastics seem to be type one pete like plastic bottles, and then soft plastic that food comes in.
I started cutting up the plastic bottles and melting them with a lighter to create these flower-like shapes. When the type 1 plastic was melted it took on this almost glass-like appereance.
I started playing around with melting plastics with different physical qualities together to see what would happen.
Melting more plastic. This time I bunched up layers of the same type of plastic. I thought the texture it made was pretty cool.
Making more plastic flowers.
Some of the plastics would burn very quickly. Some could have the soot cleaned off but others also burned around the edges.
After a lot of different plastic tests and flower-making sessions, I started creating more sketches. I had an idea to make a neckpiece that looked very organic and beautiful from the front but from the back, it looked very grim and would almost harm the wearer. Kind of a play on how plastic looks so appealing but in reality it has more cons than pros.
I had a random thought of the phrase "Our future? All I see is plastic" which inspired me to think about creating an eyewear piece that distorted the wearer's vision, and also represented the phrase I thought off.
Figuring out how to make the sides of the lenses.
Trying to make them sit on the ears better. However, when the soft plastic was melted over the top of the plastic on the inside, it would break. I stuck with the straight lens shape. They were made by cutting rectangles out of old plastic bottles, and then wrapping small strips of a thinner plastic made from food packaging. I would heat up the ends of the plastic strips to act as glue to keep the plastic together. I then placed the 'lense sides' in between baking paper and then ironed them. This caused the inside plastic to curl up a little bit and become sturdier, and for the whole piece to be stuck together better.
From here I started trying to figure out how the plastic 'flowers' would sit on the frame and how I would attach them. I used nylon meant for fishing lines and poked holes through the plastic.
Extras Images
