How can we make microplastics visible?
The challenge
Defined as plastic pieces that are 5 mm and smaller, microplastics are simultaneously imperceptible and harmful in people's everyday life. ​
​The long-term cumulative impact on the human body is unevenly distributed, and not fully known.
​​​Therefore, there's a need to make them visible and comprehensible for the general public.
The Embodied Ecologies approach:
In a permanently polluted world…how can we better understand and reduce exposure to microplastics?
Our case initiator is the Embodied Ecologies research project. They focus on the everyday cumulative chemical exposures people experience, known as “cumulative toxicities,” and investigate people’s concerns related to them.
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In our permanently polluted world, everyone deals with pollution and toxicity in some shape or form. However, these “cumulative toxicities” are experienced unevenly, and people may be limited in their actions to remove them due to various social, economic, or political factors.
Following the methods of the Embodied Ecologies project, we adopted cartographic practices known as experiential mapping to explore the concerns people have of microplastics.
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So we worked as a Living Lab, collaborating with different stakeholders...
Our Process
We interviewed lots of stakeholders
GGD Amsterdam
Gemeente Utrecht
KWF
University College London
The Great Bubble Barrier
Texel Plastic Vrij
GRID-Arendal
Urban Plastic Soup
NOVA RWS
KABK: Plastic
Justice Actions
Wageningen University & research
Vrije Universiteit
Floating university Berlin
Leiden Advocacy project on Plastic
Mapping
Pollution
De Ceuvel
Omgevingsdienst Noordzeekanaalgebied
Gemeente Amsterdam
Natuur en Milieufederatie Noord-Holland
We researched the
state-of-the-art on Microplastics
Human health
And so much more...
Global flows and production
Chemicals and additives
Measurement
Policy and legislation
We hosted
co-creation and co-evaluation sessions
Co-creation sessions
We co-created maps
We used experiential mapping to investigate people’s experiences. We understood how people are affected by microplastics in their daily life, and how they take action to reduce these exposures.
We used lots of materials
And the people we worked with already had awareness on microplastics.
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We processed our data...
Interviews
Literature review
Co-creation sessions
... to create maps that could make MP visible
We hosted a co-evaluation session to gather feedback from experts on our maps
All of this was done to answer one critical question:
How can we make microplastics visible?
Here's our answer:
By visualizing people’s concerns and compiling them in an Atlas, we can contribute to knowledge sharing on the topic, and help toxicity menders to ultimately combat the uneven exposures to chemical toxicities such as microplastics.
the team
Jelle Biegel
I take a bird's-eye view of the project, using the bigger picture to translate complex ideas into a compelling story.
Charlotte Schmitt
Pietro Nicolini
Marthe Mejer
A creative environmental engineer. Focusing on social design with a constant eye on innovation, and entrepreneurship. Combining creativity and technical skills
Design focused and detail oriented with a background in Landscape architecture, interested in the intersection between regenerative urban design and sociology
Robert Laan
analytical systems thinker with a background in sustainability policy and energy transition. Interested in the interdependencies between social and technical systems and to navigate these systems in times of wicked complexity
Bridge-builder with a background in the natural and social sciences, inspired by cities and nature.
Contact us
Special thanks to:
Tait Mandler, Anita Hardon, Filip Reka, Lenneke Vaandrager who all followed our journey through this project. To all the participants of our co-creative process, who collaborated with an open sharing attitude.
To the AMS institute and WUR for providing us with the opportunity to work on this project
