Date
Monday 30th September 2019
Time
10:45am - 10:45am
Description
Your Markets need you!
Calling all Primary Schools in the Perth area!
Fremantle Markets are holding an exhibition, starting on the 15th of November 2019, to encourage visitors to think about the re-use and/or recycling of single-use plastic. According to WWF Australia, Australians, on average, use 130kg of plastic, per person per year. Only 12% of that is recycled! More frightening still is that 130,000 tonnes of plastic will find its way into our waterways and into the ocean! Out at sea, plastic is deadly! Marine animals like turtles can choke on plastic bags mistaken for jellyfish and seabirds eat small pieces of plastic floating in the sea and along the shoreline, which cannot be ingested.
Each State Government has developed a Waste Management Policy, in line with the Federal Government’s National Waste Policy 2018, which defines the way forward for all Australians, through to 2030. Also, Australia is a co-signatory to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, with Goal 14 referring to ‘Life Below Water’. The facts and figures concerning this element make for very serious reading! The ocean covers three quarters of the Earth’s surface and represents 99% of the living space on the planet, by volume. The ocean also absorbs 30% of carbon dioxide produced by humans, buffering the impacts of global warming. However, as much as 40% of the ocean is heavily affected by pollution, depleted fisheries, loss of coastal habitats and other human activities. Three billion people around the world depend on marine and coastal biodiversity for their livelihoods, including many Australians.
The exhibition ‘Bloom’ will take place from Friday, 15th November 2019, to coincide with the launch of National Recycling Week, 11th November to 17th November, and continue until Sunday 2nd February 2020. All of us have plastic milk bottles, juice containers and other everyday consumable packaging at home, which could be collected and used by local primary school students to create the ‘jellyfish blooms’, to be hung in the roof space of the Market. We’ve made some examples, from re-usable materials, with elements sourced from REmida Perth Inc. https://www.remidawa.com Its truly amazing to see what can be created from left over bits of pool covers, old CDs, a couple of kitchen colanders, tinsel and cellophane, as well as leftover sheer fabric and lovely natural sponge, collected from the beach after the recent storm.
Supported by the WA State Government, REmida has created two community-based, self-sustaining, plastic recycling hubs designed to reuse domestic plastic waste and create a range of items including toys, containers and art works. They also act as a great creative resource for schools and individuals who want to create their own art, from recycled and reused materials. The REUSE store at Freo is another great source of reusable materials, for all sorts of craft projects (https://www.fremantle.wa.gov.au/news-and-media/2722019-trash-and-treasure-new-freo-recycling-centre-reuse-shop)
We haven’t used glue in our samples, only twine, string and wire to hold the materials together, so that at the end of the exhibition, the ‘jellyfish’ can be deconstructed and the materials used again for another craft project! Also, PET bottles should not be used. Bottles made of polyethylene terephthalate,(PET, sometimes PETE), are coded with the resin identification code number “1” shown inside the universal recycling symbol. We recommend you continue to collect these and give them to Greenbatch to be fully recycled https://www.greenbatch.com
We think we’ll need at least 2,000 ‘jellyfish’ to create an amazing display, so we encourage you to get creative! Extra lighting will be installed in the roof of the Markets, (small, sparkly lights), to shine through the ‘jellyfish’ and give the impression of being in the ocean and looking up through the ‘jellyfish’ to the surface, which will feel as though the ocean is dappled by sunlight. Each school’s contribution will be hung from a recycled timber frame, measuring 1.8 metres by 1.8 metres, with a banner containing the school’s name, supplied by the Markets.
Visitors to the Markets will be encouraged to vote for the best ‘jellyfish bloom’, with cash prizes of $1000, $500 and $250 given to the schools achieving the highest number of votes, placing them in 1st, 2nd and 3rd place respectively, as well as having each schools’ details promoted on our website, explaining the creative process and the materials used in making their ‘jellyfish’.
Please see competition Terms & Conditions here. Every school planning to create an installation must register their interest by the 30th of September 2019!
Click here for registration form email to info@fremantlemarkets.com.au
Happy crafting from all of us at Fremantle Markets!