"Aposematism" is the use of a visual signal of conspicuous markings or bright colors by an animal to warn predators that it is toxic or distasteful.

This finding gave us the idea of designing patterns with colors and print them on the plastic bags in order to warn ocean species and drive them away from the toxic material.

We chose 4 of the most famous venomous sea animals: The Scorpion Fish, Lion Fish, Mandarin Fish and the Blue Ringed Octopus.

And printed their colors and patterns over generic plastic bags.

By doing this we made our plastic bags safe for sea animals in case they reach the ocean.

The plastic bags were designed using 4 of the most famous venomous species in the ocean.

One of them was the Lion Fish pattern because of its bright colors and thick lines, we considered it would stand out the best in and out of sea.

Another animal pattern used is the Mandarinfish, the most beautiful fish in the ocean but also know for its toxic mucus to repel predators.

Finally we used the pattern of the Blue Ringed Octopus, known for being the deadliest animal in the sea and the Scorpion fish know for being the most toxic fish in the ocean floor.

The design of the bags included a call to action message that invited people to recycle it and to find out more about the issue at ASEPLAS website.

2.5 Million Venomous bags were printed in all 4 patterns.

The largest retail establishments in Ecuador acquired them.

No sea turtles have have died from this bag since its launch date.

ASEPLAS was honored by local environmental authorities and given the innovation green award 2016.

Positive reputation of bag manufacturers from Ecuador is up 9 points compared to previous year.