Towards the end of March, Replastic was the unfortunate victim of a break-in at our studio space. While we were lucky nothing was stolen, the damage caused was extensive and necessitated significant repairs. Thankfully, our hosts, Colchester MakerSpace, have been amazing in sorting out the damage.
Throughout March (before the break-in) we had been testing and experiment with reheating our shredded plastic. This process of establishing the “melting” (or deformation) point of the plastic, both in terms of the temperature and time needed, is the crucial next step in our journey to making products from plastic waste. Currently, our efforts are focusing on finding the best technique for creating clipboards to be used by schools and charities.
With the repairs at the studio still on-going, for April we decided to take the opportunity to develop our website and launch our latest campaign, Washed Up.
A few months ago, Replastic was asked to take part in an art exhibition on plastic at The Minories Gallery, Colchester, this August. We decided this was a prime opportunity for our organisation to raise awareness of the issue of microplastic, as, throughout our first year in operation, we’ve found a lot of people still aren’t aware of what microplastic is and the detrimental impact it has on the environment.
Often stories of plastic pollution come from elsewhere, with no obvious link between our own littered urban environment and the trillions of small pieces of plastic littering the ocean. This exhibition will break that disconnect, inviting members of the public from all across the globe to send us plastic found on their local beaches. We want people to understand that what washes away somewhere, washes up somewhere else.
Our first collection for the Washed Up campaign comes from our very own local beach in West Mersea, where what at first appeared to be a pristine landscape, soon revealed its dangers buried in the sand. You can see the full story of our search on West Mersea here.
We are really pleased that our website is now up and running, check it out at www.replastic.org.uk and consider taking part in our latest campaign!
