Session 5: Creative Solutions to Global Challenges

Marine litter is one of the predominant wicked problems of our time. It is a time bomb worsening by the day due to increased production and the faulty life cycle of the materials produced. As with all wicked problems, a solution is not obvious and needs to be inclusive of all actors of the field, in an active dialogue to target behaviour change at all levels.

The SeaCleaners (TSC, an international non-profit) operates in Indonesia with its marine litter collecting vessel the Mobula 8. This pilot project reflects the missions and broad activities that the non-profit is tackling not only at sea, but also on land. By collecting coastal marine litter with its vessels, The SeaCleaners aims to clean areas in the most polluted zones across the globe; Indonesia being its first operating field for floating marine debris internationally.

The SeaCleaners proposes to discuss this pilot project that involves several actors of the plastic life cycle, making it a transdisciplinary project in its approach:

• By collecting marine debris, TSC also characterizes and geolocates the litter collected to understand it.
• By researching the litter collected in detail, and further linking it to microplastic presence and characterization, TSC also aims to contribute to the science around marine debris in not only quantity and quality but also in its impact to the ecosystems.
• By proposing solutions for disposal or reuse of the litter collected, it engages locally and on land to start a dialogue with the local community at large in the hope to integrate low tech solutions without duplicating and potentially inject opportunities that may not be available locally.
• By adapting educational tools and games culturally, including short films, TSC engages in grassroot activities in schools and the community at large. Its network relays these awareness raising activities for a more inclusive approach.

The goal is to tackle the issue by gathering evidence that will be used at a policy level to complement behaviour change happening in the community and explore low hanging fruit solutions first and expand further accordingly.

Content for panel discussion or workshop: The panel will discuss the many components shaping TSC’s in-country activities and how these first operational activities serve as a pilot program and model for subsequent operations in other locations in Asia and other continents. The activities, including research, awareness raising, collection and waste management, are at the basis of TSC missions and prepare the arrival of its ambassador vessel The Manta. The vessel, flagship of the NGO, reflects the same missions for research, collection and waste management as well as awareness raising and education for behaviour change and policy making to fight plastic pollution globally.

With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 came increased demand for single-use plastics in response to hygiene and sanitary demands. This usage further exacerbated the global plastic waste problem. Plastic products are an integral part of the global economy, yet an ever-increasing proportion of discarded plastic and single-use products is ending up in the world’s oceans, landfills, and dumpsites. Given this background, the existing exploitation and degradation of the Earth is once again highlighted and the vulnerability of ecological systems to plastic waste pollution made visible, affecting the well-being of humans, non-humans, and more-than-humans globally.

Jane Bennett (2010) engages with the “political ecology of things” by ascribing them as actors in worldly affairs. Thereby, Bennet addresses the question of whether a discursive shift from environmentalism to vital materialism would improve sustainability thinking. Ivan Illich (1973) also advocates that individuals should become more aware of the existence of natural scales and boundaries and begin to live in a more convivial way to restore the imbalance between humans and nature.

Considering posthumanist, materialist, philosophical, and ecological perspectives, this paper argues for inter- and transdisciplinary research at the intersection of behavioural and environmental awareness. In particular, behavioural change tends to manifest slowly in the context of consumption and pollution, attributable to cognitive dissonance and the value-action gap, among other factors. In doing so, I introduce the portmanteau “plast(dem)ic” to illustrate how fast-moving and pervasive the problems of exploitation, visibility, and inequality associated with plastic and plastic waste are. Drawing on the “material turn,” the paper illustrates how human cultures are part of many other material cultures in the world. The aim of this paper is to question and discuss existing perspectives and to complement them with behavioural aspects related to views on sustainability and social change. 

The Plastic Free Mersey Project is a citizen science and engagement project delivered by the Mersey Rivers Trust and Thames21, working with local volunteers, plastics and waste management businesses and trade associations, and academic experts. The project’s key goals are to improve our understanding of litter distribution and possible sources and to help reduce it in collaboration with partners and stakeholders.

The project team has been training and empowering citizen science volunteers to survey plastic and other litter for >12 months at 20 sites along 12 rivers to quantify and characterise and explore likely sources of such litter on Mersey riverbanks. Volunteers safely collect most of the waste they record and dispose of it appropriately, helping to clean up their local river environments.

Surveys carried out by ~20 volunteers identified plastics as the prevalent material (especially food and drink related waste) around the rivers of the Mersey catchment, with plastic food packaging, sanitary items (such as plastic-containing wet wipes), plastic bags, and cigarette butts comprising >50% of the litter found on Mersey riverbanks. Other litter included glass and mixed materials. Litter fragments were very abundant at various sites. Higher litter abundance was associated with the absence of bins at various sites. The high abundance of wet wipes at one site seems to be due to the frequent discharge by an upstream sewage overflow structure.

Our key recommendations include: deal with overflowing bins; monitor the effectiveness of bins and replace them with better or more bins; place signs to deter people from littering (e.g., stating fines and engaging people on the issue in a creative way; urge people take their rubbish home, when bins are absent or full). We are exploring solutions to reintroduce some of the litter found into the circular economy with our partners. To engage local communities, we are organising a ‘Plastic Blitz’ community event during Mersey Rivers Week in July and recruiting and training new volunteers to collect further data to consolidate and expand our findings. To reduce plastic pollution and its impacts on wildlife, businesses, individuals, communities, and policy makers all have a role to play.

In 2019 Artist Joshua Sofaer, BACKLIT Gallery and East Midlands Environment Agency (EA) Regulated Industry Team formed a partnership. Their aim was to develop creative mechanisms to raise awareness of the issues around plastic in the environment and the role of Regulated Industry. The target audience was sectors of the community that each stakeholder, on their own, would otherwise not engage with. Joshua accompanied officers on site visits and wrote accompanying blog posts. BACKLIT Gallery hosted an exhibition in October - December 2021. This included a room displaying facts, a film documenting an officer's site visit highlighting the link between plastic and wildlife, a voice recording called phatonsiom was played to reflect core skills of a Regulated Industry officer and a life size cast of a Nottingham resident weighing 98.66kg was filled with plastic donated by visitors who attended the exhibition. This weight reflects the UK's annual per capita household waste. During the time of the exhibition school groups attended and took part in STEM workshops designed by the EA. The local BBC News attended this session and also interviewed the EA's Area Environmental Manger. Regulated Industry joined up with STOPTRA a local community group near the gallery for litter picking sessions to further spread awareness of the issue of single-use plastic. The data gained from items collected at the litter pick fed into a national project on plastic pollution. EA and BACKLIT held a Q&A panel session for the local community to further engage in the project. The accumulative impact of all the events has led to much awareness raising. The exhibition also prompted the gallery to started an Eco Arts Group for other arts venues in the city which EA is supporting, creating further environmental benefits. We can conclude that this creative approach was pivotal in allowing all stakeholders to raise awareness within sectors of the community they had been unable to do before. Due to the success of 'Regulated Exhibition' stakeholders have continued to stay in touch and develop further projects.

We believe that engaging communities with research is vital to improving human health, especially in regions most effected by health inequality and disease. Environmental pollution is global health crisis where social movements, community activism and engagement with research will be central to the solution. From traditional puppetry to raise awareness of India’s environmental health challenges among school students to Citizen Science Reporters in Malaysia gathering data on rubbish disposal concerns; creative and participatory work in communities can be powerful.

The Global Health Network brings research capabilities to healthcare teams in low-income countries and also shares research know-how, findings and processes between disease areas, regions and organisations. Our Mesh hub is a neutral online space where community and public engagement practitioners, researchers, health workers and others can network, share resources and discuss good practice in community engagement.

Mesh aims to ensure the value of community engagement is recognised by a diversity of stakeholders and that it is considered an integral part of research. We want to strengthen leadership, share learning and connect those working in community engagement with pollution, climate change and health. We run workshops and events, curate theme areas on key topics in engagement, showcase innovative projects and share news from the field.

With over 500,000 active members, The Global Health Network shares excellence across a large number of inter-connected Communities of Practice, not only supporting community engagement but also research uptake (ARCH hub), Global Health Bioethics, social science and support for field workers (CONNECT) among many other areas. We convene a variety of professionals including researchers, community organisations, NGOs, industry, policymakers and practitioners from around the world. We hope our approach will support collaboration, discussion and knowledge sharing between those working in community engagement and across other disciplines at PlasticsFuture 2023 

The art project "Seeing is Believing" visually represents ecosystem threats in an interactive manner to inspire change. It highlights the interconnections between nature, the environment, and human behaviour through multidisciplinary, interactive, and immersive approaches, including extended reality. This project allows individuals to experience the effects of human behaviour on the ecosystems of human and non-human animals.

Immersive experiences using digital media, storytelling, and illustration, along with extended reality, help audiences understand the consequences, and through collaborations with Revolution Plastics, Seeing is Believing aims to initiate meaningful conversations, foster allyship, and inspire tangible actions for a sustainable and environmentally conscious society.

The effects of plastic pollution on marine environments and wildlife are widely acknowledged. Yet the effects on terrestrial animals are understudied and equally concerning. In many countries livestock and working animals graze open waste sites, consuming macroplastics that affect health and can result in death - in turn affecting owner prosperity. Even if livestock appear unharmed, meat and milk often contain microplastics that may affect human health. It is therefore important to assess the risks of plastic pollution for domestic species and to devise initiatives to reduce plastic ingestion by these species.

Lamu Island, Kenya, is a place where the links between plastic pollution, animal welfare and human wellbeing are overt and problematic. Subsistence livestock farming is common and many islanders rely on working donkeys for their transport and livelihoods. Despite there being a ban on free roaming donkeys on the island, most working donkeys and livestock roam freely, regularly feeding on litter or at large unmanaged waste sites as owners struggle to provide enough feed for their animals. Due to anatomical and dietary differences, it is likely that the threat of serious health consequences from plastic ingestion is higher for donkeys than cattle, but this has yet to be systematically explored. In this preliminary study, we assess the foraging behaviour and faecal samples of donkeys and cattle on Lamu in order to determine the levels of plastic ingestion. We will also survey local residents and animal owners regarding their attitudes to plastic pollution and its impacts on livestock and livelihoods on Lamu. Our findings will provide an assessment of the relative risks of plastic ingestion for two domestic species of economic value and will identify the opportunities and barriers to reducing the harm of plastic pollution in this community. This information can then be used to devise research-informed and community-led initiatives to address this complex and often neglected problem