kct285

By: Kimmy Tanchay 

 

PROJECT TITLE: Plastic Paradise

PROJECT STATEMENT:   

“Our Oceans Are Turning into Plastic… Are We?”

-Susan Casey

Globally, plastic pollution is a problem. However, this is especially so in the Philippines, my home country. Despite being heavily reliant on the ocean as a source of tourism, livelihood and leisure, the Philippines is the 3rd largest ocean plastic polluter in the world. Hence, this piece attempts to visually highlight the scary reality that if we continue on as we currently do, there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish by 2050.

 

RESEARCH

The very first assignment for our class really impacted my choices on what materials I wanted to include. That assignment made me really realise what type and how much trash I create. Hence, I limited myself to using materials that only I collected as a personal challenge for me to finally be able to recycle my trash that I normally just throw out. From this, I found out much of my trash surrounds plastic bags from grocery shopping, bubble wrap from Taobao orders and fruit styrofoam.

I was really excited to work with bubble wrap as I really like the interesting texture and look that it could give to a wearable piece — in a way it could even replicate sheer clothing. Through research and finding inspiration online, I decided this sheerness and translucency of bubble wrap was essential as I wanted to explore the symbolism of the bubble wrap representing water and the ocean. With this, I was then going to stick a multitude of different kinds of trash onto to dress to replicate the trash floating in our oceans.

bubble wrap just seems really cool to me 
that i can imagine someone wearing
this as street style  
 

inspiration; fruit styrofoam textures

 

Thanks to the workshops, I learned how to hot press and use the sewing machine. To get a sense of how I can fuse and mould these materials together, I did some experimenting on sewing and hot pressing various plastics, bubble wraps and whatever materials I can find. Although very useful to attach fabrics together, the sewing machine was not as efficient when done on plastics and bubble wrap. Even with adjusted settings, the thread was not delicate enough and broke large holes especially with thinner plastic and bubble wrap. Seeing as I’m mostly be working with bubble wrap as the central material of my piece, I decided that I would have to use hot press as my main way of fusing and attaching my materials together.

 

SIGNIFICANCE                      

For my message and significance of my piece, I really wanted to include the Philippines as I have a deep connection and love to it. Just from quick Google searches, it was very clear ocean plastic pollution is a huge problem, especially in a developing country with more than seven thousand islands. These problems stem from a multitude of problems including lack of education, regulation, poverty and methods of proper trash disposal.

First of all, through this piece, I hope to shine light upon this issue; even though there are a plethora of articles online stating this problem, the Philippine government, schools and local barangays have not done or changed very much at all in order to help solve this issue. The ocean has always been a central part of the Philippines’ landscape and culture, hence there should be more urgency in tackling this problem.

If my project were replicable and scalable, I hope to show to the community how trash can easily be broken apart, fused and repurposed to be a variety of different things; how bubble wrap can become a dress and plastic bags become sea creatures. I know and experienced how resourceful and extremely creative Filipinos are and I’m sure with the right tools and skills, they will be able to make use of trash to create a multitude of different things.

 

DESIGN & PRODUCTION

In my midterm proposal post, I outlined how I wanted to create a basic top that was simple and minimalistic as I initially thought the piece had to look ‘sellable’ and also, I wasn’t sure of my trash designing abilities. However after I started the process of making my piece, I found that it diverged in some aspects to my original idea. After I was sure I wanted to centre my piece around ocean pollution, I decided to create a dress instead as it gave me more working space to include more decoration to get my message across.

my initial midterm proposal

 

I started off making my piece by measuring out and deciding what silhouette I wanted for the dress. I decided to make the silhouette quite loose and baggy to emulate a plastic bag. After drawing out the basic alignments I cut out the beginnings of the dress. However, since I never designed clothes before, I miscalculated the measurements of the bubble wrap when I cut out the dress, leaving me with less fabric than I needed. At this stage, I really wanted to use the sewing machine as then I would be able to have cute patterns and stitches. However, when I tested sewing a bit of bubble wrap, it simply was too delicate for thread and needles. This meant that I had to hot press the bubble wrap together, which meant the material became a more fragile and more prone to tearing.

drawing the outline shape of the dress

 

 

 

 

 

 

realised i miscalculated and
having to hot press the 
bubble wrap back together again

 

When I first thought of my design, I wanted to use bubble wrap stuck onto blue clear plastics to symbolise the blue ocean. However, from just hot pressing the bubble wrap together, I decided to skip out this as I was too scared the material of would be too delicate from too much hot pressing. Instead, I used the blue as a contrast colour, lining the bottom and tops of the dress to create a clearer silhouette of the design as the just bubble wrap was quite hard to see.

.

 

 

 

readjusted the straps 
to fit the mannequin
with more hot pressing

 

                        basic shape of dress 

 

Once this was done, I moved onto making ‘frills’ using fruit styrofoam to decorate the ends of my dress. I thought these would not only symbolise the coral reefs but also add colour, to an otherwise plain clear dress. I initially thought the hot glue gun would be the best means of attaching the styrofoams together. However, that proved not to be true as it basically started disintegrating and melting just from touching the hot glue. Hence, I went back and hot pressed them together but in a lower temperature as it was even more fragile than the bubble wrap.

adding colour contrasts to an otherwise
plain bubble wrap dress

bubble wrap dress with added on styrofoam 
to mimic frills and ocean coral

 

Collecting the most colourful plastic bags I had, I then started cutting some of them up to make the sea creatures that would go on the dress. From these coloured bags, I formed fishes, a sea turtle, jellyfish and a starfish. At first I simply tried to mould them into their shape with tape or string, however they still very flimsy and puffy. Therefore, I had to go back to the hot press to try to flatten them and mould them even further so their shape would stay in place. As they were thick layers of plastic, I knew that hot pressing these were not an option and so I resorted to the hot glue gun. After scrambling to get the glue on the plastic as fast as possible to avoid melting, my piece was finished.

my own trash i
collected over 2 weeks 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

plastic bag shaped as fish using string,
tape and hot pressing

plastic jellyfish, sea turtle and starfish 

closer view of the dress

 

CONCLUSIONS:

The wrap-up of your conclusion delivers your final say on the issues you have raised previously, demonstrates the importance of your ideas, and insightfully synthesizes your thoughts about key elements of the project experience.

the finished piece 

In the end, I think my piece somewhat reflected the goals of my project. I wanted to shed light on the problem of plastic pollution as this is a problem that is very relevant to the Philippines. With the use of blue colours and transparency of bubble wrap, plastic sea creatures and fruit styrofoam corals, I wanted to create a picturesque imagery of the ocean and its natural beauty whilst emphasising on the reality of what will happen if we continue to neglect our oceans the way we currently do.

Nonetheless, I experienced a fair number of difficulties with this project. As I’ve never designed clothes or upcycled trash before, everything was very new and experimental. This meant there were several aspects that I thought could have gone better such as more creative, adventurous design and a more put-together finish. I would have also like to have included the Philippines more in the actual design and not just the inspiration for my piece. Be that as it may, for a first project, I was satisfied with the results and excited for our next project or even try to do one on my own.

From this project, I learned a lot of new skills, utilised creativity and became more aware of plastic pollution in my own country. When we see daunting news articles and depressing pictures of trash pollution, it often makes us feel totally powerless as we believe only governments and powerful people can actually tackle this problem. However, from doing this project and challenging myself to make something artistic out of trash, it reminded me of the importance of individual effect and how significant that is, no matter how small.

For my midterm wearable, I want to create a piece that is something I would wear as it would echo my personal style. I grew up in the Philippines so I’m constantly exposed to very hot, humid tropical weather. This often meant I wear basic linen tops and tees such as the ones below. I particular love wearing this style of tank tops: minimalistic, adaptable and sometimes with a pop of colour. 

Hence, I wanted to replicate this except with trash. For inspiration, I browsed Pinterest for ideas on what type of trash would be suitable to create this piece. However, I also had to consider if I currently already have this type of trash as I don’t want to have to purchase anything and create waste just to have materials to work with. 

After some research and looking at the trash I often throw away, I plan to use a plastic bag as a ‘base’ for my top. Plastic bags are a large contribution to my overall trash creation, thus I thought it was essential I include it in my project. To create an interesting texture for my top, I’m planning to use bubble wrap, from my Taobao shopping packaging, to cover the plastic base of my top. Whether I shop in a grocery or the fruit market, all of the fruit I buy seem to always come together with styrofoams I never know how to recycle them. Hence, I thought this would be a great opportunity to finally use them to also add some pops of colour to my top. 

These materials are what I currently have on hand. However, if I happen to have other types of trash, I’ll try to include them in my piece. For example, if I were to have enough bottle caps, I would want to include those into my piece as well to look like buttons.

Putting all of these 3 elements together would mostly be tape and glue. However, this might change during the process or when I attend more workshops. Also, if I find that I have extra time, I was also thinking of creating a matching bottom for the top. 

During our week 4 class, a trash collector came in to speak with us to talk about how he collects and manages waste within his neighbourhood. From his talk, I learned a plethora of information about Shanghai’s trash collection system in the perspective of the informal sector.

He explained to us the different categories of trash and what types of trash gets sorted into which category. For example, residuals are usually the most type of trash they get whilst, this includes dirty paper, cigarette butts and dirty plastic. Whilst the least amount of trash they get is toxic waste, which includes batteries, lightbulbs and expired medicine.

As a trash collector he works extremely hard, with very long hours. The new Shanghai trash sorting policy has had a big impact on his job. Trash collecting has become much cleaner and organised now. He also notes how the price of trash has dropped this year, in comparison to last. Prices are usually affected by timing such as holidays and weekends.

This talk was incredibly insightful as we often don’t get the opportunity to see trash sorting from Trash Collectors themselves. Hence, this often leads to nonchalance towards sorting out trash properly — something I’m sometimes very guilty of doing. However, seeing his perspective and opinions sheds light on this problem of waste management that we all must hold ourselves responsible for in order to make their lives and waste management, in general, a lot easier.

For our art installation, we initially brainstormed ideas such as a person eating trash. However, once Eva brought in the round circling into the room, we immediately decided to make some sort of trash food buffet. Through cutting up, folding and colouring in plastic and trash, we were able to make various types of trash food such as sushi, rolls, salad, cakes and pasta. They turned out a lot better than expected, surprisingly enough. We then placed it on a table in front of the cafeteria, along with a title and a description highlighting how much waste food packaging for ele.me and other corporations use.

There are some things we didn’t get to include some things we made. For example, we started by trying to make a table out of cardboard to prop up the circle, along with a red table cloth made out of strips of plastic. However, this did not end up working as it would’ve taken too much time.

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For this week’s reading on “China’s Informal Waste” report describes the most popular ways China manages their waste: landfill, incineration and the informal sector. The informal sector’s role in waste management is essential to sorting out trash and providing businesses with cheaper options to discard their waste. However, with the supply of waste increasing, governments now have to find a more efficient way to clear waste whilst also leading as an example as a “modern streamlined global city”

On the other hand, the “Concept of Sustainability” outlines how sustainability and businesses don’t necessarily have to contradict and go against each other. The cities that were able to come up with the most sustainable practices were able to do so with good design and public policy which essentially, led to behavioural changes in consumption.

Both the readings gave me interesting insight into how trash is managed in Shanghai, in addition to the talk in the previous week, and how we can move forward into creating a more sustainable future.

The readings on “The Concept of Sustainability” focuses on the significance of sustainability in our ever-expanding world where resources are limited and finite. This shed light on how sustainability is only achievable through collaboration of many different stakeholders and the only way to move forward is through sustainable development.

The second reading “Accumulation: The Material Politics of Plastic” outlines the invention and popularisation of PET plastics, how it entered the mainstream market and the difficulty of recycling these plastics. I found this reading particularly interesting as the “disposable” aspect that was previously a positive in terms of business decisions, have now completely shifted into an environmental problem.

Both these readings had links to the Collective Responsibility talk we were able to listen to the previous Wednesday. It was extremely insightful how even a very big and modern city like Shanghai, still has a huge waste management problem — highlighting how hard it is to not only recycle waste but also finding the proper way for citizens to properly sort out their waste. Moreover, this act of recycling and managing waste is made even more difficult through having to sort out through many different types of trash that often times cannot even be recycled.

Through some quick Google searches on NatGeo and EcoWatch, the most shocking facts about plastic pollution I found was that half of all the plastics manufactured were only made in the last 15 years and that the average time a plastic bag is used for is 12 minutes! As a consumer who previously did not think much of what happens to plastic and waste once it gets thrown away, I now am more aware of the extreme difficulty in recycling and managing the billions of plastic wastage.

Plastic is everywhere. It is such a common part of our everyday lives that we often don’t even think about it: where it’s produced, what its function is or what happens after we toss it away. The documentary “Bag it” and the readings of Vice and National Geographic all outline the ugly truth in our plastic waste management.

As stated in the readings, China, along with other developing Asian countries, were able to accept exports of plastic and waste from developed countries. However, this has recently changed — leading to problems of where to manage these tons and tons of plastic waste. This situation in which the convenience in simply shipping away their plastic problems is no longer an option, is an inevitable one. As described in the Nat Geo article, facing this problem head-on, now that governments have no choice, could be an ““opportunity” for other nations to create better recycling systems at home.”

Having said that, the readings and video is a stark reminder of our own part of the plastic problem. It’s extremely easy to point fingers at others and avoid blame but the root cause of our plastic problem boils down to us as consumers. Whether it is grocery shopping or ordering takeout food on Eleme, there has been countless times where I simply toss the plastic packaging into the trash without a single thought of what would happen to it. Even when we attempt at reducing plastic waste, many businesses don’t offer plastic alternatives, besides consumers bringing in our own reusables. This is the reason why plastic continues to linger on until today despite the knowledge of us knowing how harmful it is — convenience. We as consumers have to constantly remind ourselves that the belief of single-use plastic bags is a total myth as these plastics actually live on and find themselves where they aren’t supposed to be.