Light It Up

The final trial of the lighting was done on the 26th June, using the blue LED string lights going up the back, the EL wire threaded through the milk bottles, and then a large camping light placed on the inside of the wave protected inside a plastic blue container, which also casts a nice hue and gives a glow from the inside so the whole wave is illuminated. We also have a smaller light (but is still very powerful) that we may add inside, but this decision will be made when in situ and depending on how dark the car park is.

The wave in itself is completed, however, we have left a gap in the large sheets of plastic that are sewn onto the sides so we can change the batteries that we will cable tie each time, the pallets we are attaching the wave onto need the top coat of black paint (this will conceal them), nail the frame at the base to the pallets using industrial staples, and also attach the trailing plastic to the pallets. This all has to be done when setting up, on location, so we will have to allow time to make these final adjustments.

Images are our own.

Life Without Plastic – Yes Please!

I recently came across a website for an online store aiming to revolutionize the way we consume plastic waste. Life Without Plastic not only sell most household items, but also are very proactive in promoting new ways to healthier living for the environment, but also those living in it.

There are now many more alternatives to plastic products available. This is due to a growing awareness of the problems associated with plastics. For example, a tremendous amount of media attention has been given to the issues of BPA over the past few years.

Yet, the quality of these alternatives varies significantly.

There are some wonderful new products created with a real concern for quality, health, the environment, and worker conditions. As well, there are other products out there that are unsafe and unethically manufactured.

For example, not all stainless steel is created equal, and as with many things, price is often an indicator of quality. One cannot expect ethical sourcing and quality control measures to be in place for dollar store dishes. Where a product is made can also provide clues about its quality. That is why we indicate the country of origin – as well as all ingredients – in the description of every single product we sell

Co-founders & co-owners Chantal Plamondon and Jay Sinha say about their website;

“We are activists for a plastic-free planet working hard to bring you safe, high quality, ethically-sourced, Earth friendly alternatives to plastic products. We are also committed to raising awareness about plastics issues by providing solid science- and experience-based information and showing people, one person at a time, the beauty and simplicity of a life without plastic.”
References:

Life Without Plastic, Chantal Plamondon, and Jay Sinha. “Plastic-Free Products by Plastic Pollution Coalition (PPC).” Life Without Plastic Your One-Stop Shop for Plastic-Free Products. Last modified 2015. http://www.lifewithoutplastic.com/store/plastic-pollution-coalition.html.

Life Without Plastic, Chantal Plamondon, and Jay Sinha. “The Life Without Plastic Story | Bottles to Containers to Plastic Free Living.” Life Without Plastic  Your One-Stop Shop for Plastic-Free Products. Last modified 2015. http://www.lifewithoutplastic.com/store/our_story.

Photo by Mike Beedell http://www.mikebeedellphoto.ca/

Image retrieved from, Beedell, Mike, and http://www.mikebeedellphoto.ca/. “Chantal & Jay – Co-Founders & Co-Owners.” http://www.mikebeedellphoto.ca/ and http://www.lifewithoutplastic.com/store/our_story#.V2-2KKKrNf4. 2015. Accessed June 26, 2016. http://www.lifewithoutplastic.com/store/our_story#.V2-2KKKrNf4.

Creating the Crest

When brainstorming early in the process of creating our wave, the idea was to use not only plastic bottles, but a variety of plastics as the consumption of all plastics types, not only bottles, that invade the natural habitat of the oceans. One of the best ways of using other plastics is on the crest of the wave, where bubble wrap has been used to resemble the white foam that large waves create as they crash. We want to create a sense of our plastic wave coming down or over the viewer as it creates a simple direct link to the oceans plastic pollution.

 

We attached a layer of bubble wrap to the front of the wave. This is the crest of the wave where the white lights are placed. This catches the light and creates a really amazing frothy looking front to our wave. We attached the bubble wrap using fishing wire to the wire mesh frame. Threading the lights within the bubble wrap will hopefully protect them a bit from the elements.

We have also incorporated thick industrial plastic bags by sewing them in with nylon and a tapestry needle to hide the mesh frames on the inside, through the middle behind the milk bottles, and then also at the sides to join the front and back of the wave. Sewing the bubble wrap onto the front was easy enough compared to most of the wiring required in this project! However, threading the plastic behind the milk bottles was quite challenging, as by this stage all the other bottles had been strung onto the structure, which made it difficult to get right into the centre to attach the plastic sheets.

Image are our own.

 

The Second Layer

After completing the first layer we attached the blue LED string lights onto the wave using cable ties to secure them to the bottles creating lines going up and down the wave.
Just before attaching them we measured out the length of the lights in relation to the size of the top of the wave (which is roughly 1.9h by 2.5w). We discovered we would need two more sets of string lights to cover and create the aesthetic view we wanted to achieve. With these on we continued to attach the second layer of bottles over the top of the lights. Attaching them using the same method as the first layer.

Once the back of the curve was finished, we were able to move on to attaching the front of the wave. We used milk bottles at the very front as these diffused the light from the EL wire and the light that would go inside the wave.

We threaded the milk bottles the same way as the other bottles, however, we also threaded the EL wire through them before attaching to the structure. This way the wire lit up more of the bottles and was easier to secure in the required places.

 

Its dark, cold and raining in the images above. But the wave must go on! Many bits of chocolate have been used in the making of this wave, as fuel for the makers 😉

Images are our own.

It’s Coming Together!

The designs of how we would form the wave was done in stages, as most of the elements could not be created without one of the others being completed first. These images are of the first layer being wired to the frame, and also the rows being prepared to be temporarily cello taped together then inserted with thin wire, punched with small holes at each end to be wired through, and then finally go onto the welding mesh.
In the background of most of these images you can see boxes and bags, these are all filled to nearly overflowing with the prepared plastic bottles, sorted in like with like, washed in the boxes, unwashed still in the bags, and then another set of stacked boxes with bottles with the base cut off and then yet another box filled with these bases.

As the process of the actual brainstorming and creation of the wave structure has been so time-consuming, this held up being able to see which lights would be most visually effective, so once we had a few of the first row on the top layer of the wave completed, (and using a little imagination of how it would look with another layer on) we decided we just had to experiment.

In the top images we thread some of the EL wire through the frame at the front, with half a row of milk bottles on to see how they would soften the opacity of the lines the EL wire created. We also thought that the blue LED string lights created strips that were too vivid and made one lose the effects of the wave as a whole, however we thought this would change after we attached the second layer of bottles onto the top of the wave.
Having the lights between the two layers of bottles softens the effect of them, emphasising the wave form and bottles, as opposed to distracting the viewer from them.

Images are our own.

Creating the Structure (finally!!)

We have had so many setbacks in the process of actually forming the wave and the supporting structure. We have had contradicting advice in regards to building an armature, the best materials, whether it would stay up and be safe.
Not having experience with creating a sculpture this size before we have been unsure of which is the best advice to follow! In the end we went ahead and ordered one sheet of welding mesh, as this could be used in most of the possible ways of creating the wave, and we are running out of time and have to start the construction. (we can’t wait to get past all the struggles and actually see the installation coming together!).
We figured it would help us to see if the form would work, and be steady enough, by bending the welding mesh back onto itself and holding it in shape temporarily with rope and thin wire. (pictured.)

It was a real relief to return to our original idea for the armature and see that this structure resembled a wave!

As this design requires less plastics, the welding mesh makes up a lot of the form, it would save us a lot of time in trips to the recycling centre and washing of bottles. The mesh also creates a strong base for the installation.

As we were all happy with this structure we had to weld it together! I (Rachael) was a bit tentative at the initial thought of welding myself as was Bethan,  but I wanted to give it a go, and I figured it would be much more satisfying if we did all of the required tasks to form our wave, and welding was one of these things!  It turned out to be so much fun and was exciting to see our wave coming together! Below are the images of us preparing to and doing the welding, along with the settings of the welding machine.

(Note from Bethan: The welding has been my most memorable part of this. I was also feeling a bit freaked about welding, but it was empowering and lots of fun! A skill hopefully we will be able to use again in the future.)

Images are our own. In preparation for Light Nelson 2016

Problem Solving the Structure

After creating what would make up half a layer of plastic bottles for the wave using the brick formation, it became apparent that this method would require even more bottles than the hundreds we had already accumulated; to form the scale of installation we are aiming for. This also meant a lot more washing of bottles than we had expected.

We also had concerns as to the strength of just having plastic layered, if it got windy, rainy, it could easily blow away, sway dangerously, and even fill with water and become too heavy and collapse on itself.
The test we had created by lining the bottles up and joining them together with sellotape caved when lifted, and after being rained on completely came apart, as the glues came unstuck. This confirmed our concerns of the issues that would arise when making the wave this way.

We also bought a tube of No More Nails multipurpose/industrial glue that we had checked would stick on plastic, but again, if we formed the wave out of plastics alone, without the underlying structure, this would require mass amounts of glue, and also consume a lot of time waiting for the glue to dry before adding another layer.

We then tried cutting the base off the bottles and slotting them together where possible with similar sizes and designs. This proved quite effective, as they not only fitted together well, but also had some give to create the curved form in our design.
When trying this we found how well it worked, and even though I had the idea when inserting the plastics together to have them running horizontal, when we discovered how they curved so well it was the obvious choice to string them in rows vertically.

We found some flexible, aluminium wire which we strung through the bottles, and then again at two points by punching holes into the plastic to fortify it.
We achieved this by using a stick of dry bamboo and using it like a giant needle, tying the wire to one end and threading it through the bottles.

This image shows the rows of bottles and our giant bamboo needle

This created the desired curve and worked well, this is how we are forming the rest of the top of our wave.

Nice curves wave.

Images are our own.

TED Talk on the Plasma Process

Plasma waste processing systems may be the next step in the right direction to reduce the tonnes of waste (plastics included) that get dumped and over time cause major effects on the environment. Plasma Processing reduces large amounts of toxic gases, waste, solid matter, plastics, and so forth and aids the recycling process of bringing the materials back to its original form to then in turn be made into something new.

This chemical reduction is already revolutionising the way major corporations are disposing of and where possible reusing matter in society, with the US Air Force Base operating a Plasma waste energy system. The next generation of air craft carriers called the Garold R. Ford-Class will have Plasma Waste Processing Stems on board. Plasma can also being used and developed to rid the world of some of the most toxic materials known to man,  chemical warfare agents. Plasma is also able to destroy refrigerant, an Ozone depleting substance (or super green house gas (which is 7,100 times stronger than carbon dioxide!)) For more information follow this link.

The only issue with Plasma and why governments are not already using it in everyday life, is that the share size and expense of an incinerator, or plasma plant, being at least $100 per tonne for the proper disposal of our waste, over twice the amount to have it taken to the landfill and buried.

To find out more about this fascinating topic please follow this link to find the talk by Tom Whitton on how Plasma can be used to help the environment through waste reduction.

To find out about Plasma waste possessors check out the article on ‘how stuff works‘ and the ‘pyrogenesis‘ website.

References:

Information retrieved from,

Whitton, Tom, – Chemical Engineer and former City Councillor, and TEDx Talk. “How Plasma Can Fix Our Waste Problem | Tom Whitton | TEDxMontreal.” YouTube. January 19, 2016. Accessed June 21, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VquomoGn4zk&feature=youtu.be.

Plastic Eating Insects; Can this be True?

The accidental discovery of a waste eating bacteria has lead to some fascinating research by Chinese environmental researcher, Jun Yang, an environmental engineer at Beihang University.

Polyethylene is one of the most problematic and popular types of plastic,  with the annual global production around 80 million tonnes, filled with numerous toxic chemicals, yet being in our lives every day, in products such as bottles, bags, packaging, and so on.

Yang was inspecting bags of millet in his kitchen and found them riddled with tiny holes. “I observed moths flying out of the bags and their larvae crawling around inside,” he says. He began to think that the larvae of Plodia interpunctella, a tiny grain-eating moth found in kitchens worldwide, might be digesting the plastic film with the help of bacteria in their guts. Waxworms, the larvae of Indian meal moths, have guts filled with microbes that can digest plastic

Yang, found that plastic bags of millet in his pantry had small holes in them. Intrigued, he also found moths and moth larvae in the bags. Deducing that the hungry larvae must have digested the plastic somehow, he and his team analyzed their gut bacteria and found a few that could use plastic as their only carbon source.

Previous studies had reported bacteria that can reduce the weight of polyethylene by more than 20% in just six weeks. However, these promising reports failed to provide comprehensive molecular evidence of bio-degradation such as signs of oxidation of the polymer chains. Unfortunately, other research teams could not replicate these studies because the original authors neglected to register the microorganisms with an international depository.

The polymer, he says, resists degradation by microbes because it is highly hydrophobic, has a high molecular weight that prevents it from entering bacterial cells, and has a stable structure consisting solely of C–C and C–H bonds.

 

References:

Image Retrieved from, Buss, Lyle. “Plastic Gourmand.” http://www.fondriest.com. Accessed June 20, 2016. http://www.fondriest.com/news/discovery-plastic-eating-bacteria-may-speed-waste-reduction.htm.

Information and quotes retrieved from, Pelley, Janet. “Pantry Pests Harbor Plastic-Chomping Bacteria | Chemical & Engineering News.” Chemical & Engineering News | Serving the Chemical, Life Sciences and Laboratory Worlds. Last modified December 3, 2014. http://cen.acs.org/articles/92/web/2014/12/Pantry-Pests-Harbor-Plastic-Chomping.html.

Information retrieved from, Balster, Lori. “Discovery of Plastic-eating Bacteria May Speed Waste Reduction.” Environmental Monitor. Last modified July 27, 2015. http://www.fondriest.com/news/discovery-plastic-eating-bacteria-may-speed-waste-reduction.htm.

Wikipedia. “Polyethylene.” In Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., n.d. Accessed June 21, 2016. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyethylene.

http://www.fondriest.com/news/discovery-plastic-eating-bacteria-may-speed-waste-reduction.htm

http://cen.acs.org/articles/92/web/2014/12/Pantry-Pests-Harbor-Plastic-Chomping.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyethylene

Eco Friendly?

With the overwhelming amount of plastic waste being disposed into the oceans on a daily basis and the growing knowledge of this polluting the environment, some of the leading manufacturers have tried to combat this issue in the last decade by producing products with eco plastic. By developing lightweight plastic products that are supposed to break down rapidly, thus attempting to reduce the hazards to marine animals. However these so-called ‘biodegradable plastics’ aren’t the answer, according to the United Nations’ top environmental scientist, because they don’t behave as promised. Instead, the ‘greener’ plastics contribute to the problem of ocean plastic just as much as other varieties.

Jacqueline McGlade, chief scientist at the UN Environment Program, warns that biodegradable plastics are not the answer to the problem of ocean plastic. “It’s well-intentioned but wrong. A lot of plastics labelled biodegradable, like shopping bags, will only break down in temperatures of 50C (122F) and that is not the ocean. They are also not buoyant, so they’re going to sink, so they’re not going to be exposed to UV and break down,” she told the Guardian.

I find it ironic that the very items that are supposedly designed to protect the environment are destroying it, such as captured within this image. While the rest of the plastic has broken into smaller pieces ( which is far from ideal and extremely deadly for marine life), the one bottle that hasn’t the slightest indication of beginning to biodegrade is the one purposefully created to! As you will find in the research below, these biodegradable plastics are not up to the standards they are perceived to have.

Previous studies have shown that biodegradable plastic products do not break down more rapidly in landfills, now a United Nations Report issued in May 2016 outlines how these supposedly biodegradable plastics are not actually any different from normal plastics when placed in to the sea, in fact they may have worse environmental effects.
Ironically, some of the additives used to make plastic more likely to biodegrade also make it more difficult to recycle. This means the ‘green’ product can actually pose more of a threat to the environment than other types of plastic.
“When you start adding all of that [additives], when it becomes waste, they [the additives] become the enemy of the environment. As consumers we need to think of the use of plastic,” McGlade said.

Furthermore, in a recent UNEP report it was concluded that the adoption of products labelled as ‘biodegradable’or ‘oxo-degradable’ would not bring about a significant decrease either in the quantity of plastic entering the ocean or the risk of physical and chemical impacts on the marine environment, on the balance of current scientific evidence (UNEP 2015(a)). (information retrieved from UNEP (2016) Marine plastic debris and microplastics–Global lessons and research to inspire action and guide policy change. United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi.)

To read the whole report follow this link http://www.unep.org/about/sgb/Portals/50153/UNEA/Marine%20Plastic%20Debris%20and%20Microplastic%20Technical%20Report%20Advance%20Copy.pdf

References:

Quotes and some text retrieved from, DiStasio, Cat, The Guardian, and habitat.com. “Biodegradable Plastics Are the ‘enemy of the Environment,’ Says Top UN Environmental Scientist | Inhabitat – Green Design, Innovation, Architecture, Green Building.” Inhabitat | Design For a Better World!. Last modified May 25, 2016. http://inhabitat.com/biodegradable-plastics-are-the-enemy-of-the-environment-says-un-scientist/.

Image One (comic) retrieved from, Granlund, Dave, davegranlund.com, and www.cagle.com. “Plastic Bag Bans.” http://www.cagle.com/. Accessed June 19, 2016. http://www.cagle.com/.

Image two retrieved from, DiStasio, Cat, and Inhabitat. “Unknown.” inhabitat.com. 2015. Online. Accessed May 2, 2016. http://inhabitat.com/tag/plastic-waste/.

Information retrieved 19 June 2016 from, UNEP (2016) Marine plastic debris and microplastics–Global lessons and research to inspire action and guide policy change. United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi. http://www.unep.org/about/sgb/Portals/50153/UNEA/Marine%20Plastic%20Debris%20and%20Microplastic%20Technical%20Report%20Advance%20Copy.pdf