Alarmed by all the plastic packaging you see when you go shopping ? You ’re not alone . An interactive art exhibit called The Plastic Bag Store showcases what an entire grocery store may bet like if everything — including the food itself — was made of plastic .
The showing first opened in New York City in 2020 , mean earlier to coincide with the start of New York State ’s old bag ban in March of that year ( it was delayed to October due to the onset of the coronavirus pandemic ) . The shop is the employment of Robin Frohardt , a house and picture director . Frohardt order that the exhibit is a reflection of her own experience trying to shop among plastic .
“ I got the idea many long time ago after look out someone bag and double - bag and triple - bag my foodstuff , ” Frohardttold the AP . “ I just was sort of strike by how much promotion is require in our everyday living . And it just seemed so derisory . I just thought , ‘ Maybe I could make a project that ’s even more absurd . ’ ”
Robin Frohardt, creator of the Plastic Bag Store, inside the display.Photo: Carlos Osorio (AP)
The resulting entrepot is fill to the brim with food posture after charge plate merchandise , all made from plastic salvaged from the street or scraps bins , with punning on democratic brand gens like “ Bagorade , ” “ Lake O Bags , ” and “ Yucky Shards . ” The production was in the first place supposed to include a alive puppet show when it opened in March 2020 , but thanks to the pandemic , that morphed into a 45 - minute of arc video that is shown alongside the showing .
The statistic on global plastic enjoyment are cheerless , no matter how you slice it . Plastic useskyrocketed more than 200 timesbetween 1950 and 2015 , whilerecycling rates are scarily low . And that ’s not slow down any metre soon : planetary plastic use and waste isset to treble by 2060 . Residents of wealthy countries are some of the worst offender ; while the U.S. has only 4 % of the world ’s population , someresearchhas show that it produces 17 % of worldwide plastic waste .
To try and write out down on consumer charge plate waste , multiple U.S. nation have taken activity to ban the availability of charge card products . At leastten statesand several territory currently have shaping bag bans on the books , whilemultiple city and stateshave also ban single - employment plastic chaff .
But bans on consumer product can only go so far . Aninvestigationfrom New York Focus published in October found that across New York City , businesses of all sizes continue to give out plastic bags , with little care of penalization , two years after the ban die into core . Onestudyfound that banish single - use charge plate bags only extend to an growth in consumer buy heavy obligation charge plate methamphetamine hydrochloride bags to use for trash can liners . Meanwhile , FloridaandArizonahave preemptively blackball municipalities from qualify plastic bag enjoyment .
Someexperts have suggestedthat to really tackle our charge card addiction , legislators should turn to the source : plastic manufacturer . Research has found that just 100 of the world ’s large companiesproduce 90 % of the mankind ’s plastic .
The Plastic Bag Store iscurrently on displayin Ann Arbor , Michigan . Click through the microscope slide above to see some of what ’s at the store .
ContainersPlastic
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