We are already involved in what is happening and we are responsible for it.

Yes, we are talking about two worlds: organic and artificial, created by man. There is no point in talking about the differences between these worlds. We must only remember that the first of them has long existed and the second one has broken into the wake of a century of polymers and plastics.

On the one hand, we need plastic for practical ways of solving everyday’s problems: it stores food, it serves as a shell for hygiene products, makes up the design of various electrical appliances and it is found in most areas of life. During the use of this material for comfort very few people thinks about what was outsed by it. After all we have to realize that products can be stored in paper bags and other plastic parts can be replaced with more organic ones. It applies to cases where plastic is not an absolute necessity. For example, it is more expedient to replace plastic cups with paper cups, because styrene gets into the drink from a plastic cup. And the hotter drink in such a cup, the less useful it is. We give value to plastic and watch its role in our life only when we need it. Nobody cares how the life of plastic goes on when we throw it away. From this moment begins the “other side of the coin” of plastic for humanity and the environment.

Recall that plastic is made from sources of fossil fuels such as natural gas and oil. Toxic chemicals are released into our water from plastic bottles and other synthetic things which we buy. It is worth remembering the problems with sorting waste in different parts of the world and think about where plastic life is going on for more than 100 years. Plastic is not biodegradable, so it displaces landfills and pollutes the environment.

This problem has a global scale, and each person can contribute to its solution. Therefore, in order to attract the attention of the audience to the environmental plastic pollution we — the WeeDesign team created a special project. Within this project we conceptually illustrated the scale of harm from plastic waste for animals. We have involved three characters in our project to create the image of animals that are most often exposed to the threat of life because of plastic.

Penguins confuse debris with mollusks absorbing it. Sometimes they are even forced to leave their habitat due to the accumulation of waste.

Birds confuse garbage with food, they stuck in it and sometimes even suffocate entangled in a plastic bag.

Sea turtles confuse the packages with jellyfish and algae. They try to eat them and consequently get confused.

All these representatives of nature have in common one big problem — they confuse food with plastic waste.

Director:

It seems to me that such an important problem as a plastic waste should be raised in society. After all, the Earth is our common home. In my opinion, a socially responsible business should also take part in such important projects. WeeDesign has all the tools to make people consider this problem by visualizing it. This is a small contribution of our studio to the purification of our planet.

Concept Artist:

Nowadays people buy plastic in large quantities. They throw it out and believe that if the problem is not visible, it does not exist. In fact, terrible things are happening in the backstage of all this. And the victims of that are the defenseless animals. I thought that plastic displaces sentient beings, but will never replace them. We have embodied my visual associations in our project.

3d artist:

The main task for me was to transfer the layout of garbage as realistic as possible, so that he got the outlines of animals. It was enough to imagine what elements of plastic trash can be associated with the beak and fins. Textures of the models also have a special meaning. This is expressed not only in pollution, but also in the spreads of magazines and booklets calling for environmental protection which also turned out to be among the garbage.

We also decided to go to the nearest dump to look at the problem in the real world. And what we saw turned out to be even worse than expected.

If you look at the details of the models, you will notice that each of them has one object that is unique to the project. For example, a penguin has a coat hanger, and a bird has a clothespin instead of a beak. The turtle’s shell is crossed by the scotch that holds the garbage. All the elements that make up the figure of the model perform a specific function: household dirty objects and plastic bags are presented for the expressiveness of the image. They specify the figure and give it artificiality. These animals symbolize not only the relevance of the harm of plastic waste in the environment, but also the ineffective measures people take to solve the problem. It is embodied in the booklets and pages of magazines on each model, that carry the social overtones. On the turtle you can see a booklet with the question: “Do U realize how much U harm animals by using plastic?”. On the penguin magazines with articles calling for the preservation of animals, that diluted with thematic illustrations. On the bird you can see the game card in the package which is also a symbol of frivolity.
More information about the project and its details you can find on the link:
Plastic

Fortunately, people have started to think globally about this issue. And have set an example of how you can reduce the amount of plastic waste. On TED, Lauren, a graduate of environmental studies from New York University, spoke about her experience of learning how to stop using plastic:

I stopped buying food in a package, bringing my jars and bags to the store.
I began to do all the means of care.
I bought used items.
I was reducing my needs focusing only on necessary things.

I am an ordinary lazy person and I would not live like this if it were difficult for me.

It is very significant that brands such as: H & M, L’Oreal, Inditex and others signed an obligation to “eliminate plastic waste and pollution from the very beginning”. Hopefully, legislators of fashion will give a start to the elimination of plastic waste as the main global trend for saving the environment

At the same time, the world is not deprived of active fighters for cleaning the environment from plastic, in particular the ocean. Lonneke Holierhoek Chief Operating Officer at The Ocean Cleanup introduced to the world a device for reducing the concentration of plastic in the ocean “System 001”. Lonneke and her team have a goal to reduce the amount of plastic in the ocean from 18 to 20, or even 40%.

Lonneke Holierhoek:

«System 001» is a floating tube with a skirt under it. That system moves around the ocean in a c-shape or u-shape catching the plastic and collecting it inside of it. Designing this system we have took a great care not to have any adverse effect on the wild life.

Hopefully, we have clearly shown that plastic which is comfortable for human life displaces the life of the planet starting with animals. Do you think will plastic replace them?