WHAT DOES A DOCUMENTARY MAKER (MARCO SPINELLI, @CIAOMICHIAMOSPINELLI), AN ARTIST (STARI RIBAR, @RIBAR.STARI) AND A B CORP COMPANY (SEAY, @SEAY_OFFICIAL) HAVE IN COMMON? JOIN US ON THIS JOURNEY FROM SICILY TO VENETO TO FIND IT OUT!
Microplastics are everywhere. In the water we swim, in the food we eat and, news of these days, also in human blood. However, one of the main threats to the continuation of thehuman kind can become a raw material used for the production of new objects, be they clothing or works of art.
We asked Marco Spinelli (documentary maker of the marine ecosystem) to clean-up a mile of Sicilian beach immediately after a storm and Stari Ribar (artist who transforms plastic waste into works of art) to help us demonstrate that even a dangerous waste can become something completely new by transforming Sicilian plastic pollution into a colorful fish.
Sieve, gloves, blowtorch and tempera colors.
These are the ingredients to give waste a new life.
A waste that quickly can be turned into a peace of art… or a recycled clothing.
It is crucial to change our point of view, a new life can be born from recycled plastic.
Only 10% of plastic is currently recycled.
The remaining part ends up in oceans and landfills or gets abandoned or burned.
It is estimated that more than 8 million tons of plastic end up in the water every year.
Macroplastics become microplastics, able to move and migrate in the air, in the soil, in the sea and in the water we drink.
The oceans produce more than 50% of the planet’s oxygen, mainly thanks to phytoplankton (small aquatic plant organisms) and algae. They are the regulators of the earth’s atmosphere and global climate and are fundamental for human life: 60% of the world population lives within 60 km of the coasts and 3 billion people base 15-20% of their diet on fish products. A real disaster.
But let’s not forget that plastic can be tuned into a real resource, but we need to change our habits now: in 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in the oceans and then the fishes of Stari Ribar will be the only fishes in the sea.
The goal, therefore, is to increase the reuse and the recycling by up to 70%.
There are three key points to act:
1. RE-DESIGN AND INNOVATION – Creating reusable materials and production models would make it possible to recover 30% of plastic packaging. From small ones (lids, caps etc.) to unconventional materials such as PVC, EPS and PS.
2. RE-USE – Reuse would save 20% of the packaging currently considered waste. For example, reusable bottles and bags would save 6 million tons of material.
3. RECYCLING – Recycling would be beneficial for 50% of the remaining packaging. Fostering innovation and reuse could increase the collection of plastic for a value of up to 190-290 dollars / ton, pushing the circular economy to invest in green materials.
Shall we start immediately? Let’s start choosing products made with recycled and regenerated materials!
