Playa x Plastic

  • Purpose

    Playa x Plastic is an intervention that emerged out of volunteering with a local beach cleanup organization in Barcelona called Clean Beach Initiative. While volunteering, we were shocked by the amount of plastics, cigarette butts, and tiny micro-plastic pellets that littered the beach. Each week volunteers come to participate, the material is sorted and weighed, and then properly recycled. However taking the time to sort and separate microplastics was time consuming and difficult. We wanted to create tools that could help make removing microplastics easier, in a format that worked with the volunteers.

  • Context

    As a group we were interested in packaging waste and microplastics found in our food and ocean. The Mediterranean Sea touches many touristic beaches and countries, making it one of the most polluted bodies of water. Plastic manufacturers have been found to be discarding microplastic pellets into rivers while others make it into the sea during transport. We wanted to address the complex issue of microplastics on a hyper-local scale, with people who are addressing it on their local beach.

Josephine Bourghardt, June Bascaran & Samantha Piercy
MDEF (Masters in Design for Emergent Futures)

While bringing different sized netting and sifters to the beach to test what could best catch the microplastics, we discovered other volunteers who started bringing nets and had similar questions. We were able to collaborate together and exchange ideas and tools. Testing and debunking our preconceived ideas of what worked was important in seeing what was useful and effective for other volunteers. In talking with the organization founders we also learned that they have to bring clean up tools each week which makes it difficult to bring anything too heavy or bulky.

This intervention was a series of testing, questioning, and reflecting with others and ourselves. It brought up new questions of how as designers we can intervene to create a change in how people respect their environment. Why are people there to volunteer their time to pick up trash? What is it about addressing waste that combats the inescapable feeling of climate change? How can ordinary people come together to build community and positivity around something monotonous like picking up trash?

Tool Exploration & Testing

The size of them makes it difficult to retrieve because rocks and organic matter are the same size. There is also an influx of plastic pellets that get caught in the organic material debris. We began bringing different mesh and nets each week and handed them out to other volunteers to see what worked.

We were able to iterate and learn through trying out simple prototypes ourselves and getting feedback from others. We developed a more refined sorting and collecting systems with interchangeable nets that allowed for future updates and modifications. We also designed a paddle that could be discreetly brought to the beach and had an approachable aesthetic versus the raw mesh we had been using.

On the right you can see the three layers of mesh filtering out larger items, like cigarette butts, to the tiny plastic pellets on the bottom. The middle layer was random small plastic pieces that could be from sport equipment or packaging.

Microplastic Workshop & Brainstorm

We collaborated with Clean Beach Initiative and Centre de la Playa (Beach Municipality) around the topic of micro-plastics. In this workshop we were able to connect these two organizations and make known the common interest and share practices. The intervention consisted of sharing from Centre de la Playa, us presenting our tools and findings on collecting micro-plastics, a time of regular beach cleaning, and then resuming back together to reflect and brainstorm on ideas.

During the beach clean portion, some participants collected samples of a square area they chose on the beach. They then brought in the top layer of sand and sifted through it to pick out pieces of plastic. From the pieces that were picked out the participants could then analyze them under a microscope. Seeing this scientific approach to analyzing an area and mapping it on the beach showed another perspective and method in calculating and measuring different areas of sand on the beach.

After the beach clean we also gathered to brainstorm on questions surrounding beach cleans in general, tools, and what else could be done for awareness and participation. We received great feedback and insight on what motivated volunteers to come to the cleans regularly, what would be helpful for them during the clean ups, and other creative ideas.