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Don’t Waste

Presented in the Eisentrager-Howard Gallery at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (Dec. 12-16, 2022)

This capstone project was the culmination of a semester’s worth of research, planning and work. I chose to talk about resource waste, because I’m very passionate about it and it effects everyone. The leading creators of waste are mainly large corporations, but that doesn’t mean us as individuals don’t contribute. 

GOAL
Persuade viewers to start making less textile, food, and plastic waste in their lives.

IMPLEMENTATION
Going to the movie theater is a common spectator activity that many people share. So, I created three posters to “movies” that you do not want to idly watch play out and tickets with information on how to make change in your life. Viewers are able to take these tickets with them to reference through-out their everyday lives.








CONFESSIONS OF A SHOPAHOLIC
BASED ON A TRUE STORY
95% of all textiles have the potential to be recycled. 15% of textiles are currently being recycled. 81.5 lbs of clothing is thrown away by the average U.S. conumer. 14 mil tons of clothing gets thrown away in the U.S. each year. 16-35% of microplastics in the ocean come from washing and drying textiles. 2.6 mil tons of returned clothes end up in U.S. landfills each year.




THE HUNGER GAMESONE MAN’S TRASH IS ANOTHER MAN’S DINNER
Nearly 1/3 of the food in the average American family of 4 gets wasted each year. 1 lb of food per person is wasted each day in the U.S. Which equates to 30-40% of the food supply. In 2018, 37.2 mil Americans were food insecure. $1500 in food is thrown out by the average American family in a year. 24.1% of U.S. landfills is food waste.




PERCY JACKSON: SEA OF MONSTERSWE CREATED THEM, ONLY WE CAN STOP THEM
Only 15% of plastic is collected for recycling. Less than 9% of that actually gets recycled due to residues. 487 lbs  of plastic waste is generated annually per person in the U.S. 40 billion plastic spoons, forks, and knives are used and thrown away each year. Around 70,000 microplastics are consumed by an average person each year.



All photos by Emily Pietrzak.