Elena Howes

9%

Only 9% of all recycled plastic actually gets recycled. Since the 1950’s, America’s plastic consumption has grown to outrageous proportions resulting in a Texas sized waste dump floating in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. To spark change in this paradigm there needs to be a shift in individual’s mindsets to modify simple daily habits to be sustainable. These small mindful actions range from a swap to a metal straw to carrying around your own cutlery. Often people detach their responsibility from their discarded trash once it is lost in sight; you throw your yogurt container in the recycling bin and it’s not your problem anymore because you'll never see it again. But what is the fate of that container? Why does it get lost in the great pacific garbage patch? Because we cannot see our waste, we cannot make ourselves accountable for our accumulation. My project aims at confronting viewers with visualizing their own waste in front of others to either be proud of or shameful for. Through handmade wearables and garments, I have transformed single use trash into pieces that make the invisible guilt of trash, visible. Through this PSA campaign series I will unpack the disconnect between humans and their waste in hopes to create a sense of consumer responsibility in viewers.