Indonesian museum made from plastic bottles, bags highlights marine crisis

Environmentalists in Indonesia eager to ship a message in regards to the world’s worsening ocean plastics disaster have created a museum made totally from plastics, to persuade folks to rethink their habits and say no to single-use luggage and bottles.

The out of doors exhibition within the city of Gresik in east Java took three months to assemble and is made up of greater than 10,000 plastic waste gadgets, from bottles and luggage to sachets and straws, all collected from polluted rivers and seashores.

The centerpiece is a statue referred to as “Dewi Sri”, a goddess of prosperity broadly worshipped by the Javanese. Her lengthy skirt is comprised of single-use sachets of home items.

Individuals stroll via a tunnel constructed from plastic bottles collected from a number of rivers across the metropolis. Credit score: Prasto Wardoyo/Reuters

“We wish to ship info to the folks to cease the usage of single-use plastic,” mentioned the museum’s founder Prigi Arisandi.

“These plastics are very tough to recycle… Beginning in the present day, we should always cease consuming single-use plastic as a result of it’s going to pollute our ocean, which can also be our supply of meals.”

The plastics drawback is especially acute in Indonesia, an archipelago nation that ranks second solely behind China for its quantity of plastics that find yourself within the seas.

Activists assist put together a plastic waste museum in Java. Credit score: Robertus Pudyanto/Getty Pictures

Along with the Philippines and Vietnam, the 4 nations are answerable for greater than half of ocean plastics and Indonesian efforts to control use of plastic packaging has had blended outcomes.

The exhibition has acquired greater than 400 guests because it opened early final month.

Ahmad Zainuri, a pupil, mentioned it had opened his eyes to the dimensions of the issue.

“I’ll change to a tote bag and once I purchase a drink, I’ll use a pitcher,” he mentioned.

Activists working with the museum assist wash plastic waste for the exhibition. Credit score: Robertus Pudyanto/Getty Pictures

The museum has turn into a well-liked location for selfies shared broadly on social media, the place guests pose in opposition to a background of hundreds of suspended water bottles.

“I must purchase reusable issues resembling ingesting bottles as a substitute of shopping for plastic bottles,” mentioned pupil Ayu Chandra Wulan. “By how a lot waste there may be right here, I really feel unhappy.”