It’s the Micro Plastic –
The installation Micro-Plastic :: Mega-Problem addresses and illustrates the origin and
distribution of micro-plastic within our global bodies of fresh and salt water. Over time
shopping bags, plastic bags, beverage bottles, canisters, even lost fishing nets (so called
‘Ghost Nets’) become shredded, ground down and eventually milled into fine particles by
wave motion and in huge garbage whirls - known as micro plastic. Even certain cosmetic
products used to exfoliate skin in soaps, creams and other products contain ‘so called’
micro beads which are also micro plastic. Fish, crab, mussels, even whales and other
marine life in rivers and oceans mistake these small plastic particles for edible feed and
swallow them. It is through the consumption of seafood and other marine life that micro
plastic arrives in the human food chain. Micro plastic is particularly dangerous to human as
well as marine life because it attracts and concentrates poisonous substances such as
insecticides (DDT), carcinogenic plastic softeners (PCB) and other hazardous chemicals. As
micro plastic cannot be distinguished from other sediments, our water treatment plants are
unable to separate it out – hence the vicious circle closes.
Whilst Austria, like many other European countries, is recognized as a role model in
recycling endeavours (including plastics), there is still a need for much greater public
awareness and understanding of the serious threat to both the marine ecosystem and
human life that is posed by micro plastics. We therefore hope that, through the artistic
presentation of the micro plastic problem, the event will act as a catalyst for much greater
public debate of the issues and a demand for further far reaching initiatives against plastic
littering. Micro plastic has already been identified as one of the main causes of the
progressing destruction of our seas and oceans – at a time when the full extent and long
term effects of micro plastic are not even remotely understood.
The plastic and packaging industry has recognized the issue and commenced to develop
biologically degradable products. Nonetheless, it will take many years, if not decades, until
these new products are sufficiently mature for wider use. In the meantime, every year
some 20,000 tons of plastic waste find their way into the marine environment – and since
plastic does not biologically degrade, this waste becomes concentrated in huge garbage
whirls in our oceans. If we do not act against this, there will be more plastic garbage than
fish in our seas by 2050 according to a study of the UN….
What can we do against micro plastic?
Avoid Use
- If possible, don’t buy products in plastic packing
- Don’t by cosmetic products containing plastic beads
- Re-use plastic products (e.g. shopping bags)
Recycle
- Don’t dispose of plastic waste into the natural environment – recycle into correct recycle
bins (separate for PET and other packaging, shopping bags)
Inform
- Relay the information on micro plastic to your family members, friends and
acquaintances.
Micro-Plastic :: Mega-Problem
How do plastics and plastic softeners
get into our food?
Festival & Exhibition ‘SOHO in Ottakring’
04 - 18-Jun-16 - Matteotti Platz 4 - A-1160 Wien