A Trashy Holiday
- design for the environment
The Brief
This project is an environmental awareness-based project, and we are required to create a campaign, consisting of both print and digital media that is centred around creating awareness on recycling to the public.
The Client
The Sustainable Seas Trust is a non-profit organisation working towards creating awareness to communities across South Africa about ocean conservation. This organisation’s work focuses on facing some of the largest threats the environment faces today, from plastic pollution in the sea, to education about ocean conservation, but their main point of interest is stopping plastic waste at the source in the African Marine Waste Network, inspiring a love for and understanding of the sea in their predetermined Mission Blue Hope Spots, and education about conservation of coastlines in the SST’s Marine Education programs. To achieve this, the SST needs to create awareness on marine pollution, reduce the amounts of plastics in landfills (which will prevent it from then ending up in oceans) and lastly to motivate support from communities through education. Therefore, this NPO’s perfect partner can be Remade Recycling, a member of the Institute of Waste Management who are experts in ethical waste management. The problem the Sustainable Seas Trust and Remade Recycling faces are that the target audience aren’t yet realizing the impact that not recycling will have on their everyday lives and just how easily it can be adopted as a lifestyle to make a difference.
Creative strategy
The plan is to create an interpretation of what the future will look like if the target audience still chooses not to recycle. Plastic pollution contributes to 80% of marine pollution, and its lifespan can drastically be extended once plastic ends up in oceans. Some of the effects of this pollution can be seen with the rise of garbage patches like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch that are creating islands of trash. Through this campaign the target audience of Millennials will be prompted to rethink what their future and the beach holidays they enjoy will be like if plastic and marine pollution continues and ruins these natural environments.
The concept
To execute this, the idea is to take the rise of ocean plastic pollution, and how more and more Garbage Islands will form, and use it to show that beaches as we know it will no longer be the same. With this idea in mind the concept of “a trashy holiday” is generated as pollution will be unavoidable and a part of future beach holidays. With picture perfect and serene beach holidays turned on its head, inspired by environmental centered design and semiotics, the target audience will be urged to become aware of their current habits and how they can change to preserve the holidays they look forward to each year.
By “booking” a holiday to this so-called garbage islands, the target audience signs up to this workshop where they will be first be made aware of marine life, the effects pollution has on this recourse and lastly, they will be taught how to recycle effectively and keep plastics off of landfills this is similar to the way someone would book their holiday online.
This will be confirmed by a direct mailed invitation/ ticket that will be delivered to the target audience that will offer more information on the location and times of the workshop.
