While working on a range of recycled textile products for Spacebound I became more obsessed with the design and manufacturing supply chain particularly for plastic.

 

At the time I had imagined my plastic waste going in the recycled bin and being made back into the same plastic products I had just used. That was at least what I feel I had been lead to believe anyway. 

When in fact most plastic can't actually be recycled at all, or at least are not recycled. 

Unfortunately those lovely symbols ♺ we know so well, don't really mean to much when it comes to plastic.

After researching more about what happens to plastic waste, and starting to feel more and more uncomfortable about my own personal use I ended up starting to sketch and research ideas of what I could make with this waste. 

Something that would take a product that is generally a single use item, to a product that at a minimum is multiple use, and ideally generational. 

It was also important that they products weren't perfect and you could see remittances of what it is made out of.

The objects I ended up with are made from 100% recycled post consumer plastic, specifically HDPE plastic which is generally found in milk bottles, shampoo bottles, bottle caps and other similar types of packaging. This waste would otherwise end up stockpiled or in landfill.

 

As plastic can’t actually be recycled,

 

it can be down - cycled and made into the objects, the idea of making these is that they’re not single use items - hopefully generational. It’s giving this material another life beyond its intended single use.