Sourcing clean, clear plastic bottles, among the myriad types of plastics collected by Magpie for recycling, has not been as fruitful as you might think considering our twisted taste for bottled water. In our foraging for our preferred type of bottle for our Bhopali sculptures, we waded through many more food containers than bottles. It seems that absolutely EVERYTHING comes packaged in some kind of plastic now, an ongoing and growing environmental disaster in itself that’s been going on for decades.
What we saw at Magpie (big thanks for your support Bella, Jock, Peter and all) was a tiny drop in the ocean, a small corner of a relatively small city on one of the ‘wealthiest’ islands in the world. The reality is that the recycling industry can’t absorb very much of our plastic ‘disposables’. From mushrooms to raspberries, containers of plastic pillows of clothes washing ‘liquid’ to well, just about everything else (not to mention the increasingly weird fruit and veg) the message is clear, plastic is bad stuff.
That said, we’re going to make the best use of it at Glastonbury – if you’re coming, please bring re-use your bottle (don’t leave it in the sun!) and when it’s had its day bring it to us where it’ll join others to become part of our Bhopali Sculpture Garden.
