The Plastic myth explained
There is no denying that plastic is one of the most versatile and durable inventions of all time. However, it’s also a manipulation of nature that is costing humanity and the environment. Plastic is a material that humans have synthesized from crude oil in a capital and carbon intensive process of chemical engineering. It involves taking a natural, biological substance that has taken billions of years and time to form deep underground, heating it up and releasing the stored carbon into earth systems that are already at tipping point. This fossil fuel is meant to stay where it is, otherwise it creates an imbalance in system processes and planetary boundaries. This leads to the extreme climate changes that we’re seeing around the world today.
I came up with the idea of WWS because I want to reduce waste in Cornwall’s hospitality sector by at least 40% before the climate clock runs out. I can only achieve this if individuals realise that they hold the power to change the environment. I call it the black mirror of waste because often, individuals don’t realise their decisions regarding waste can have a huge impact on the environment and climate system. Mainly because a lot of people don’t realise they hold the power to change the world.
The product we’re designing will begin with prototypes of steel and eventually be made from recycled ocean plastic and plastic waste from bars and restaurants in Cornwall, to create a circular economy. I want to focus on plastic, because it is one of the biggest polluters to the environment today. In a detailed assessment of the extent and variability of microplastic pollution in the Bristol Channel, UK. Sand samples were collected between the 5th and 30th August 2017, with microplastic recovered from 15 of the 16 beaches in the Bristol Channel. In total, 1446 particles of microplastics were extracted. The most common microplastics recovered were fragments (74%) and industrial pellets (13%).
25% of the recovered particles were analysed using infrared spectroscopy. When studied, 96.5% of the particles were confirmed plastic, with polyethylene (61%) and polypropylene (26%) the most common polymers of plastic.
My own experience with plastic pollution is one of the main reasons I founded WWS. I decided to go for a swim in the summer, as my feet lifted off the ground and I drifted out of my depth, I closed my eyes. When I opened them, I was joined by a strangeness to the natural situation I was in. There was a floating plastic bag, not too dissimilar to a jellyfish, so I grabbed the flimsy material and vowed to make change, to preserve the wild spaces that we have from the destruction of plastic production.
How am I going to achieve a reduction of waste by 40% in Cornwall’s hospitality industry? By asking individuals to look in the mirror and realize they have the power to alter the climate by the decisions they make. The butterfly effect is real, every action has an equal and opposite reaction, WWS aims to help individuals appreciate this in the context of their own lives. Reducing waste and throwing an item into the right bin, really will make a difference to the extent of climate change related issues. We must try to refuse virgin plastic at every stage possible, then we have to look at ways of reducing it, or if necessary reusing it and as a final step recycling and making it into something else. To align with the circular economy.
Unfortunately, plastic does not rot or decompose in our lifetime. Therefore, we must treat plastic with the respect of the hundreds of generations (and some) that it’s taken to form, and try to use it up.
We need to start treating Waste like the Resource it is.
