Plastic Funeral

Our planet is swimming in discarded plastic. We use 500 billion plastic bottles annually, while only 9% is recycled. As people cannot feel their future, they discard plastic carelessly. I looked at plastic pollution from plastic's perspective. What if my friends were used only once and died every day? I empathized with the death of plastic.

In Korean Buddhist beliefs about death, through complicated rituals, the dead go through an intermediate state and are judged by 7 kings. After 49 days, the dead are reincarnated into one of six lives. On the other hand, plastic with 7 main types is discarded and delivered to a recycling centre and going through various processes. After that, they reborn into another material.

By applying 'the process of plastic being thrown away and recycled' to 'the process of human death and reincarnation', 'Plastic funeral ritual’ allows humans to empathize with plastic as a spiritual object and raise awareness of using plastic products. Inspired by Korean traditional rituals, complicated plastic funerals help people understand death and share their grief. The ritual consists of 11 stages, and the procession was held by participants. Most of the ritual objects were made of recycled plastic.

I set up a ceremonial table next to the bin in CSM and ask people who are discarding plastic to perform complex rituals. Then, participants took part in the procession performance to the recycling centre, which is an intermediate state before plastic’s rebirth. This allows people to participate in this ritual more actively, as they see off the death journey together. The experience of ritual and the procession allows people to empathize with the death of plastic psychologically and practically. This ritual makes the act of discarding waste a unique experience of participating in the funeral, making the interaction between human and plastic.