“There is a problem with plastics entering the environment and that needs to be addressed but we need to look in the right places to find a long-term solution. Banning plastics is not the answer, efforts should be directed towards creating a circular economy for plastics that integrates product design, use, recycling and reuse of plastics to reduce indiscriminate disposal.
Professor Ted Henry, from the Institute of Life and Earth Sciences School of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society at Heriot-Watt University
These views had been shared with Vanessa Grondin and David Katz through a series of ted talks that I had watched this week. The idea of removing all plastics is a monumental task and one that I doubt I would see in my lifetime. Katz suggests that the last thing we need to be doing is removing the plastics from our oceans. He goes further and gives an example of an overflowing sink. The last thing we would do is mop up the water or place buckets under this. We turn off the water. We need to do the same with plastics and turn off their stream into the ocean. Katz had developed a social enterprise in deprived areas that enabled people to trade in plastics for commodities, banking points enabling them to support themselves in a sustainable way. This programme enables individuals to purchase cooking fuel or internet access, collecting wase material and cashing it in. The material is then processed and sold to be repurposed and made into other products or materials. This operation takes place in deprived countries where the waste issue has become such that it is detremental to health and ecosystems.
A lot of my research this week has been based on previous readings and podcasts that I have used in my Projecting a new perspective project. I aim to continue this idea and use this reseach along with the below articles to develop a solution to the problem of recycling and contamination.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-45496884 
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-45496884
The confusion surrounding plastics has become overwhelming, what can and what cannot be recycled differs from council to council. How the material is processed also depends on locality, Cornwall has made a huge effort to reduce the impact on the environment from plastics and waste material. The final straw campaign has seen many areas within Cornwall ban the use of single use plastics, with the addition of beach cleans the area has seen a significant improvement with a huge thanks owing to the surfers against sewage work and campaigns.
It has been suggested that we cannot recycle our way out of this plastic issue however I believe that there is room for improvement in the way that we do recycle this material. There is an economical issue involved in this whereby the value of certain plastics is worth more per tonne; some have no value and end up in landfill such as polystyrene. Contamination of materials can also effect how much of the material is recycled; food waste or the uncertainty of what can be recycled in each area causes this contamination. How can design influence peoples actions to prevent the contamination of materials in recycling?
Through a discussion with Joe, we identified the community of beach cleaners and the organised events that take place by locals and pubs. I also spoke about the #2minutebeachclean, initially I had thought about projecting this idea further and raised the idea of street cleans or shore cleans, to give a sense of responsibility to communities away from a coastline. After a look around the #2minutebeach clean website it would appear that this is something that they have already promoted and aim to peruse. I believe I need to gain a better insight through discussions and taking part in more group beach cleans. Using surveys and interviews I would hope to gain a better understanding of peoples relationships to act of cleaning up their environment.
Looking back at some of my previous research and having listened to the pod cast delivered by Joe this week I looked at this problem from a slightly different perspective. Thinking about the students who were on strike due to the lack of significant change politicians have implemented around climate change I wondered, how could I use design and my role as a designer tell the story of, promote the idea of and encourage students to take further action against climate change. I am not convinced that walking out of school lessons will have the impact desired to make change but It has certainty gained momentum enough to make the main media news.
Student engagement should aim to gain insight into the views and perspectives on climate change, this will inform further investigation with a view of answering the question: How can I use design to promote significant change in the actions of young adults to protect environments and eco systems. Looking through the lens of young adults, I aim to gain an understanding of what is important to them and how can their actions make a difference towards their future.
I have created a survey to gain an insight into the views and perspectives of students regarding the impact they have over climate change and the powers that they feel government have to make change. From this I hope to gain a better understanding and focus to take forward and develop a solution to the idea of protecting our environment. A small group of students have completed the survey and it has brought to light that students do feel they have the ability to make change and have the choice to make a difference to climate change and their futures. It also highlighted a lack of trust and encouragement from government and that students felt that they would be better to take things into their own hands and not rely on members of parliament to make the change they want to see.
With growing concerns over our environment there has been numerous successful campaigns that have highlighted the impact we are having on the environment. From films such as Blue planet, A plastic wave or even Plastic China, Plastic has become the hate material of the world over. The surfers against sewage campaigns have been hugely successful in changing the mindset of a generation, even influencing consumerism. They way people are living is evolving into a more conscientious and considerate manor that notices the impact that an individual can have on the planet. With protests from students hitting the news in recent weeks, walk outs against the lack of significant change that governments are making towards climate change it seems we are at a turning point in the discussion of our planet. Generations have been aware of the issues of climate change but have failed to react to this, Millennia’s and Generation Z are hot on the heels of this issue and are prepared to take action against this. A group of students were interviewed and highlighted that they feel that this issue is a government one but feel that they too have their role to play in making significant change. It had been suggested that a platform for change would promote younger generations to adopt principles that could help change the outlook of our planet.
Pixels and Serifs. 