Plastics Trash Bale Venice Boardwalk Installation

2. Plastics Trash BaleVenice Boardwalk Installation TahaniAbbas Melanie Abrantes Jeannie Lou F. Estonactoc Julie Viera

3. Evidence of Research To us, as students, the initial evidence provided for us was the presentation regarding the cause during the first week of class is what made us aware of most of these facts. How much plastics go to waste; how much is not recycled. The existence of plastics in most, if not all, products. The existence of the gyre. Juli’s visit benefitted us as potential plastic-resistant individuals Being aware of how much plastic is in beauty products. Alternatives to plastic products (tin food containers to avoid ‘to-go’ styrofoams, reusing glass jars for drinks, steel containers for water, etc.) Felipe’s presentation of his ‘awareness’ projects’ The beach cleanup = presenting what was found at the Farmer’s market. The billboard.

4. Evidence of Research The field trip to the Santa Monica Recycling Center was an eye-opener to how recycling ANYTHING is possible. Most people think that recyclable products stop at aluminum cans and plastic bottles (because those are the only ones that rewards recycling with cash value). Many do not know that any trash, if cleaned and sorted, can be recycled. This includes used shampoo bottles, junk mail, glass jars and bottles, etc.

6. Evidence of Research The Recycling Center also enabled us to see with our own eyes how much of our trash can be recycled. We often disregard this because we just don’t care. If we, at least, keep ourselves conscious of how much we throw away each day, this enough can make a difference. The next step would be to do something more about it, like avoiding plastic products altogether.

7. Evidence of Research There are many approximated information in the internet, some more factual than the others. Despite their possible fictitious factor, one cannot help but wonder if the overwhelming numbers that are presented to us have at least a slight credibility to them. When reading through these , one must wonder how much plastics we, as individuals, contribute to these results. “Each day in the US more than 60 million plastic water bottles are thrown away. Most end up in landfills or incinerators, and millions litter America’s streets, parks, and waterways.” Pat Franklin, Down the Drain “Americans throw away 25,000,000,000 Styrofoam coffee cups every year.” www.recycling-revolution.com “… global consumption of plastic bags is over 500 billion plastics annually… In other words, that’s almost 1 million plastic bags used per minute.” www.natural-environment.com

8. Evidence of Research “In 2008, the United States generated about 13 million tons of plastics in the MSW stream as containers and packaging, almost 7 million tons as nondurable goods, almost 11 million tons as durable goods.” www.epa.gov/osw/conserve “The average family accumulates 60 plastic bags in only four trips to the grocery store.” www.resuseit.com “The average American produces about 4.4 pounds of garbage a day, or a total of 29 pounds per week and 1,600 pounds a year.” www.wisegeek.com “We throw away 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour.” “Every year we make enough plastic film to shrink-wrap the state of Texas.” “Each year, we fill enough garbage trucks to form a line that would stretch from the earth, halfway to the moon.” www.co.cass.in.us

9. Documentation The Plastics Bale Installation was inspired by the trip to the Santa Monica Recycling Center. Seeing the plastic products in its compressed form and being informed of how much plastic that each bale represented, approximately,enabled our imaginations to actively calculate how much we each of us, individually, contribute to it.

10. The goal is to make the public to sympathize with a similar reaction.

11. Documentation We decided on the Plastics Bale installation idea. We wanted to install a bale (of accurate size) in a public space where it would interrupt this space’s usual traffic. The initial plan was to borrow a bale from a Recycling Facility. Unfortunately, due to budget constraints and lack of communication with the Santa Monica Recycling Center, we were unable to do this.

12. Documentation We had other back-up ideas in case our Bale idea didn’t work. Plastic Trash Fence Body Organs made of Plastics Plastics Garden But these ideas were designed to be restricted within or around Otis College. We wanted to affect the public outside of this environment.

13. To execute the Plastics Bale Installation idea, we decided to build a bale of our own. Our bale was constructed with cardboard boxes, plastic bags, and various plastic trash collected by the entire Integrated Learning/RAP class. • The Cardboard boxes formed the body and the frame for the size that we wanted it to be. • Plastic bags were glued for the first layer of the plastic trash. • Other plastic trash were glued for the second layer. + +

14. Solution The decision to have this bale installed along the areas of the Venice boardwalk was inspired Felipe Bascope. He commented on having an installation disrupt the public space, and we had kept this in mind as we finalized this idea. As mentioned earlier, our goal was to enable the public to sympathize with how we felt when we went to the Santa Monica Recycling Center and saw the amount of plastic products in its trashed and compacted form.

15. Solution The general public does not care about the plastics-trash problem simply because they are unaware of how much they contribute to it individually. Our theory is that if they were to be presented this problem visually, if they saw it with their own eyes, then they would feel overwhelmed and they themselves will calculate in their minds how much of the problem is their own faults. This is why the size of the bale is very important. The purpose of the bale’s large scale is to be a catalyst to this overwhelming feeling that we want them to have. The public will question why this huge entity exists in their paths and curiosity will urge the individual to come closer, searching for an answer to their concerns.

16. Solution It will disrupt the Boardwalk traffic so there will be no escaping from seeing this object. Once the feelings of being overwhelmed, curious, and concerned are present, the poster (with information from our research) that will be present with this installation will provide their answers for them. We want the curious minds to be aware of why this object is in their way, and of what it represents.

17. Plastics Bale Installation [photo in separate pieces]

18. Plastics Bale Installation [photo as a whole]

19. Plastics Bale Instillation [Photo as installed in public space]

20. Plastics Bale Installation [video documentation]