(photograph © Kiwidutch)
Inside one of the buildings that hosts the flea market that we discovered by accident in Amsterdam, is a large sculptural object that can not fail to grab the attention of anyone who enters.
It’s a massive “wereldbol” (Globe) called “The World of Litter” made of recycled bottles.
It’s creator is Amsterdam photographer Peter Smith, who was inspired to make the piece after the stark reality of plastic junk discarded around Amsterdam.
The sheer volume of this plastic contamination was a shocking wake-up call and he wanted to do something to raise awareness of the problem so formed this giant globe out of dumped plastic bottles and rubbish that he collected in his general everyday travels around Amsterdam.
Shockingly, the Globe used only 10% of the plastic rubbish he collected… a very sobering thought. The Globe is formed around a metal supporting frame and was originally displayed out on the waterway of The IJ. As a child I was bought up with the mantra of “ Be a Tidy Kiwi” and the thought of littering is abhorrent to me. Yes, I plead guilty to disposing of an apple core into bushes where I’ve walked but never somewhere like a native forest or a beach and never ever anything that wasn’t 100% biodegradable.
Seeing all of these littered plastic waste begs the question: somewhere, somehow we have gone inexplicably gone from being a society that would never have dreamed of being so untidy to a society apparently so lazy, it just drops it’s rubbish at it’s feet. That’s not classy people: it’s literally a trashy thing to do. It’s to our complete and utter shame that we have become such a materialistic, consumer driven, throw away society with a disgraceful plastic pollution problem that has now gone global.
http://wheninamsterdam-omyamsterdamtours.blogspot.nl/2012/06/amsterdams-world-of-trash-rubbish-and.html (English Language site)
http://www.kleanworldwide.nl/ (Dutch Language site)
http://eco-eef.blogspot.nl/2013/01/amsterdam-klein-stukje-schoner.html (Dutch Language site)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
It would be good if plastic packaging was banned. It’s convenient, but slowly destroying the ecology of the planet (and in case you’re wondering I recycle my ink cartridges)
Comment by kiwiskan — February 11, 2013 @ 6:55 am |
Have you ever seen images of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch? It’s a floating island of garbage that is estimated to be larger than the continental U.S.
I agree with kiwiskan — if you think about it, plastic packaging has effected not just worldwide garbage, but even our attitudes toward food and consumer goods (everything pre-packaged means we often don’t give much thought to what we’re buying). At least some grocery stores here are starting to ban plastic shopping bags, thank goodness.
I’m not sure if people really used to be tidier (I tend to believe we’re a generally sloppy species), but more that we started producing too many non-biodegradable things in a very short time.
Comment by Luddy's Lens — February 11, 2013 @ 12:45 pm |
I recycle so much stuff that I only have enough non-recyclable trash to put my trash out for pickup once every couple months. If I had a compost bin (someday I will!), it would be even less than that. One of my biggest pet-peeves is people that throw recyclables into the trash, especially when there’s a recycle bin three feet away
Just tossing it on the ground is despicable.
Comment by Carrie — February 18, 2013 @ 2:14 pm |