UK-based studio VATRAA has created a monument in Milan, Italy composed of thousands of plastic water bottles. The installation, titled Plastic Monument, seeks to bring attention to the issue of plastic pollution.
“Some plastics last up to 1000 years in our landfills and oceans while others might never biodegrade,” the studio notes. “We could argue that plastic waste is our legacy to many generations to come.”
In response, the studio created a monument in the form of a trilithon, drawing similarities with the ancient Stonehenge site in the UK. The installation seeks to create a stark contrast between the single-use, disposable nature of plastic waste and the timeless nature of ancient monuments, reminding visitors that “what we are doing today might stay on Earth forever.”
To complete the monument, which stands 25 feet tall, 16,000 plastic bottles were pressed together into bales, and wrapped in a metal mesh. The piece will now stand at its site in Milan for one year, with VATRAA having larger ambitions of the installation touring the world in an effort to encourage a new relationship between humanity and plastic.
"The installation is not designed to be a beautiful, but to makes us think about the consequences of our actions in the long run," Rusu added. "We hope that this will inspire people of influence or regular plastic users to consider the bigger impact of the decisions they make today."