Rolling hills: An image of global material waste
TedxQUT 2019 Stage design.
The global fashion industry has 92 million tonnes of waste, a key component of this is the 15% of fabric meterage lost in off cuts through the traditional production of garments. Like all materials not every square centimetre of fabric can be used, so what happens to the off cuts?
Material waste isn’t limited to the fashion industry; the pre and post consumer consumption of materials, a.k.a. the commodities the world trades on is infinite, and finite. Infinite in its prevalence, finite in what we can take from the earth without giving back. Our continual choice to use single use, multi-material items renders products un-recyclable and forced into landfill. What will our world look like if we are not mindful of our impact on the planet, our global economy and on each other?
This small, highly stylised snippet of rolling hills of material waste exemplifies the hidden cost of our choices. The use of material highlights key components of waste in our global system, showcased in a manner that is dystopian and perhaps foretelling of the mono-culture we may be creating.
