We often talk about the environmental effects of all the plastic grocery bags that are produced each day, but what about plastic trash bags? We can’t really recycle or reuse those bags since we ultimately fill them with all our garbage, but what does that mean for the environment? What happens to them once they leave our homes in that big garbage truck that picks them up? I’m not completely sure what the answer to that question is, but I was inspired by this beautiful illuminated trash bag art installation designed to bring awareness to how nasty those bags are for our environment.
About a month ago I wrote about a Swimming Pool Created With 2,000 Cups & Glasses, which had a very special social initiative behind it. This trash bag installation was made by the same artists. It’s all on an Italian website called luzinterruptus, and with the help of Google Translate, I think I understand the thought behind these trash bags.
For a period of time, the museum that these trash bags are displayed in front of accepted a plastic trash bag in exchange for an admission ticket. After over 5,000 trash bags were collected, the artists went through them to choose the most colorful, decorative and artist ones. Those were the bags used to fill these two dumpsters that you see here. Each trash bag was filled with a special light designed to stay lit for four months. The idea is that at first, the illuminated trash bags look pretty and bright, but over time, as they are outside in the rain and as some start to fall in the wind, they start to look beat up and sad. Eventually, they’ll start to deteriorate into an eyesore that cannot be ignored; yet they will still be there for the full four months. Regardless of what happens, they will never completely disappear. It’s all a metaphor for the real plastic trash bags in our lives and their effects on our environment.
These Illuminated Trash Bags Raise Environmental Awareness
Via: [Ian Brooks]
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