Science tells us that plastic lives forever. From oceans to urban streets, plastic pollution has become a defining geological marker of our time – entangled with nature, yet often hard to see.
While we often measure plastic pollution in tonnage of microplastics, those numbers can feel abstract. The reality is more immediate: plastic is everywhere – in our homes, on our streets, in our bodies and from soil to sea spray. Waste is designed to disappear, but the truth is that it doesn’t.
For the past 15 years, I have used art to connect the public to this issue through reuse workshops and interactive art installations made from single-use plastics. In these exhibitions, visitors don’t just look at plastic waste; they experience it as a vibrant material that is capable of sparking new environmental conversations and creative approaches to reuse.
This work comes out of my studio, KraalDesignedisposal, which I set up in 2010. KraalD began as a playful experiment: exploring the circularity of plastic waste, turning discarded objects into art and inviting audiences to rethink what we throw away.
One piece, the Xmass workshop sign, captures the feeling I get every December when recycling bins overflow and streets glitter with festive decorations. It’s whimsical, but it also carries a deeper message – my unease about excess wrapped in celebration.
Xmass was inspired by Christmas waste. Author provided (no reuse)
A walk along the Kent coast after a storm inspired one of my early works. The shoreline was covered in seaweed, shells, jellyfish – and plastic. I picked up a sun-bleached blue toy and realised how quickly a small piece of rubbish becomes part of the ocean food chain.
Weathered and worn by the waves, plastic fragments break down into microplastics that marine animals ingest. That simple encounter on Whitstable beach and Medway river became the spark for Plastic Waste Ecologies, an exhibition I co-curated with artist Carina Brand.
Visitors to the Plastic Waste Ecologies exhibition encountered plastic clouds suspended from the ceiling. Standing beneath them, people instinctively looked up – checking the sky, noticing tiny details. I hope this inspired them to think about how plastic circulates through the air.
Sea PET mobiles – hanging sculptures made from repurposed plastic – imagine a 150-year future where ocean acidification changes marine life, jellyfish thrive, and the flow of natural cycles, or planetary metabolism, becomes visible. These installations are built from pieces collected over a decade, demonstrating that art can make environmental processes tangible and immediate.
Through workshops and co-designed installations, participants become part of the work. They helped shape another work, Beach Wrack, and contributed elements to the mobiles, taking part in a process that merges creativity, care and environmental reflection.
Conversations were had about waste and conservation while making – this highlighted the ubiquitous presence of plastic and the small gestures through which people can engage with waste differently.
Sea PET mobiles on show. Author provided (no reuse)
The artworks that result are more than just aesthetic; they are conversation starters and prompts for reflection, showing that the challenge of mismanaged plastic waste is both systemic and personal.
I believe installation art can be a vital tool in environmental dialogue – one that transforms curiosity into awareness, and awareness into action.
The climate crisis has a communications problem. How do we tell stories that move people – not just to fear the future, but to imagine and build a better one? This article is part of Climate Storytelling, a series exploring how arts and science can join forces to spark understanding, hope and action.
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