Plastic: A never-ending story
Thursday, June 20th 2019 - Sunday, June 23rd 2019
Pier Store
We are not consumers, we are creators
Consumption is not consumption, it’s creation. This is the message Grioghair McCord and Claire Davenport wish to transmit in their upcoming installation (20th-23rd June), debunking common falsehoods about plastic.
Six of the largest soft drinks companies use a combined average of just 6.6% recycled plastic globally. In truth most of what we believe is recycled isn’t. Even just a few scrapes or food smears relegate plastic to non-market value. When the lucky few items are recycled, they are supplemented by vast amounts of virgin plastic. As national and intergovernmental administrations wage a spoken war on single use plastic, plastic manufacturers are building out capacity based on expected booming demand in Asia and in Europe.
By buying plastic, we the consumers are not a passive actor in this chain but equally creators of the problem and sadly also creators of a world where children in poorer countries fall ill next to mountains of our garbage.
So, what is the answer? As the saying goes, sometimes it’s staring you in the face.
Plastic: A never-ending story opens at 10am on Thursday the 20th June and runs until Sunday the 23rd.