Twenty-five cities across the United States, including Seattle, have banned single-use plastic bags. Disposable packaging made of compostable materials is becoming more and more prevalent. An entire industry of reusable water bottles has risen up in opposition to disposable plastic water bottles.
But what’s so wrong with plastic that it must be banned, replaced, and opposed so vehemently? In light of growing hostility toward plastic, the Burke Museum unwraps the full story behind the most prevalent — and most detested — material in our lives. From now until May 27, “Plastics Unwrapped” tries to makes this problem, and some of its possible solutions, more transparent.
The exhibit opens with a simple message: “We need to rethink our relationships with plastics and find ways to use them more appropriately.” This sentiment has been widely propounded by environmentalists attempting to eliminate the widespread use of plastics that end up in landfills or the ocean, but “Plastics Unwrapped” adheres more literally to the definition of “rethink.” Within the exhibit, viewers are asked to truly reassess and reconsider their daily interactions with what was once deemed a “miracle” material.