DePlastic, azioni e buone pratiche contro l’abuso di plastica

Introduction to the exhibition

“It’s obvious that a balance has to be found between the use and the abuse of plastic”

Plastic has been synonymous with modernity, progress, and growth. With its bright colors it has contributed to the transition from the austere post-war period to the economic boom and, indirectly, to the democratization of society by offering a wide range of consumer products at prices much lower and affordable than in the past.

It is the new frontier that is suggested as a source of sure success by the entrepreneur family friend to the young Dustin Hoffman, fresh graduate of the homonymous film by Mike Nichols of 1967 or, in our own domestic market, it is the good-natured and reassuring face of Gino Bramieri that to convince Italian housewives to switch from kitchen utensils in tin to those in Moplen enhances the characteristics: "light, indestructible, durable".

Today, however, it is precisely that extraordinary durability that "reverses" the perception of this material, transforming it into an unavoidable problem: if lightness continues to constitute a sure environmental "plus" as it offers the opportunity to drastically reduce the environmental impact of transport, the "indestructibility" has instead, as inevitable, also transferred to plastic’s end of life, therefore to waste.

A study by the Universities of California and Georgia even estimates that out of the 8.3 billion tons of plastic produced in the world from the 50s to 2015, only 9% has been recycled, 12% have been burned in incinerators and 79% have ended up in landfills or lost to the environment, both terrestrial and marine. Although the recycling rate has been increasing over the years, it still remains too low, even in countries such as those of the European Union that in 2016 started to recycle 31% of plastic on the market. This does not stop the dramatic accumulation of plastic waste, which, where it results in uncontrolled abandonment, poses a serious risk to the environment and health, only mitigated in the case of disposal in landfills and incinerators, which, however, remain incompatible with the development of a "circular economy".

The criticalities are multiplying exponentially in those countries of the Third and Fourth World that do not have adequate waste management systems, but that often are experiencing an impetuous phase of growth, which leads to putting linear development before environmental protection. It is no coincidence that the dispersion of plastic waste, especially in the seas, despite being an intrinsically global phenomenon and without neglecting the responsibilities of the richest half of the world, is mainly generated in the Far East and in Africa. It is therefore not a question of ignoring the merits and, indeed, in some cases, the irreplaceability of plastics in fields such as biomedical, aerospace, nanotechnology, and, in some respects, in the packaging field itself. This material has brought fundamental innovations and helped to solve problems that previously seemed insolvable.

It is clear, however, that a balance must be struck between the use and abuse of plastic: a balance that can only be represented by its elimination where it is not indispensable, by its redesign to encourage reuse and facilitate recycling, by a replacement with bio matrix plastics where possible, by effective and efficient forms of management of the "end of life", by a growth of civil consciousness and civilized conduct to eliminate all forms of abandonment of waste.

This exhibition, that we have significantly called "DePlastic" precisely because it hopes for a world in which plastic can live its "happy and intelligent and selective decline”, wants to therefore contribute to a reflection  in this direction.