As we all know plastic pollution has become one of the biggest environmental issues, as rapidly increasing production of disposable plastic products overwhelms the world’s ability to deal with them.
How did this happen?
Plastics made from fossil fuels are just over a century old. Production and development of thousands of new plastic products accelerated after World War II, so transforming the modern age that life without plastics would be unrecognizable today.
The plastic being used in everyday lives, led to a throw-away culture. Today, single-use plastics account for 40 percent of the plastic produced every year. Many of these products, such as plastic bags and food wrappers, have a lifespan of mere minutes to hours, yet they may persist in the environment for hundreds of years.
Some key facts:
- Half of all plastics ever manufactured have been made in the last 15 years.
- Production increased exponentially, from 2.3 million tons in 1950 to 448 million tons by 2015. Production is expected to double by 2050.
- Every year, about 8 million tons of plastic waste escapes into the oceans from coastal nations. That’s the equivalent of setting five garbage bags full of trash on every foot of coastline around the world.
- Plastics often contain additives making them stronger, more flexible, and durable. But many of these additives can extend the life of products if they become litter, with some estimates ranging to at least 400 years to break down.
Most of the plastic trash in the oceans, Earth’s last sink, flows from land. Trash is also carried to sea by rivers, which act as conveyor belts, picking up more and more trash as they move downstream. Once at sea, much of the plastic trash remains in coastal waters. But once caught up in ocean currents, it can be transported around the world.
Once at sea, sunlight, wind, and wave action break down plastic waste into small particles, often less than one-fifth of an inch across. These so-called microplastics are spread throughout the water column and have been found in every corner of the globe, from Mount Everest, the highest peak, to the Mariana Trench, the deepest trough.
Microplastics are breaking down further into smaller and smaller pieces. Plastic microfibers, meanwhile, have been found in municipal drinking water systems and drifting through the air.
Millions of animals are killed by plastics every year, from birds to fish to other marine organisms. Nearly 700 species, including endangered ones, are known to have been affected by plastics. Nearly every species of seabird eats plastics.
Once in the ocean, it is difficult—if not impossible—to retrieve plastic waste. Once plastics break down into microplastics and drift throughout the water column in the open ocean, they are virtually impossible to recover.
The solution is to prevent plastic waste from entering rivers and seas in the first place, many scientists and conservationists say. This could be accomplished with improved waste management systems and recycling, better product design that takes into account the short life of disposable packaging, and reduction in manufacturing of unnecessary single-use plastics.
About our team and why we are doing this.
We as a business are very concerned about our planets future and we do our best to reduce waist in our business as much as possible. From up-cycling materials to create backdrops, storing paint leftovers and reusing paint within studio or in some cases for different backdrops to using water filters in the studio to reduce plastic bottle usage.
As a team we are also very passionate about outdoor activities like – sports, wild swimming, hiking and so on. So we come across a lot of places where we see upsetting views of rubbish being dumped and thrown around.
After first COVID-19 lockdown we have noticed huge jump in rubbish dumped in London parks and also in bigger parks around London. Also, while searching for wild swimming places we explore a lot of areas that has rivers, lakes, we came across many places where rivers were blocked by rubbish, where lake sides were covered in plastic and other waste.
This is when we decided to take some initiative and do our part collecting waste from our world starting from parks, rivers and lakes.
HOW we are going to do our part?
At the moment we are looking for partners to raise some money to help us buy some gear and equipment for waste picking.
Our aim is to be able to start our project from January, 2021. We will start small – our team and any volunteers that will be willing to come with us – and we hope with marketing and word of mouth this will spread fast via creatives and not only.
We hope to make this project fun and interacting with involving as many creatives to come along us once a month to different locations in and around London that has been badly effected by waste. This way we would get to know each other, share creative ideas etc.
The way this is going to work is:
- Each studio booking at FAV Studios – will add 15min of rubbish picking by FAV team.
- Each project booked via FAV Productions – will add 30min of rubbish picking by FAV team.
End of each month we will add all the time collected in one and will spend that time only for waste picking ( not counting travel time to and from location ). At the moment we plan to do this for 12 months and if its successful then we will extend it further.
We will be sharing our progress and bags collected on this post and on our social media.
Any support is welcome. If you interested to help us please send us email info@fav-studios.com
