Wasteminster aims to raise public awareness of the UK's plastic recycling crisis through a creative visual representation of data rather than statistics that people don't understand, engage with or have enough emotional connection to.

Wasteminster is a satirical take on the Prime Minister at 10 Downing Street speaking to the press about being a ‘global leader in tackling plastic pollution’, using direct quotations from Boris Johnson and the UK government, whilst a barrage of plastic starts pouring down from above (precisely the 1.8 million kg the UK export every day). The film puts into stark contrast the bold promises the government has made about reducing the environmental impact of plastic, whilst in reality, the vast majority of recycled plastic is exported abroad where much of it ends up being illegally dumped or burned, poisoning local people and polluting oceans and rivers.

To reveal the gravity, scale and devastating effects of the UK plastic export problem in the most effective and engaging way, using the Prime Minister's own past words and those of the conservative party, set against an accurate data visualisation of the true scale of plastic exported daily by the UK.

Online (Youtube, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook)

Europe

The campaign helped raise awareness and hold the government accountable for a problem that was largely unknown. It played a key part in the announcement by the Turkish Government of the ban on 95% of British plastic waste. Almost 500000 people signed the petition to "fix the UK’s plastic waste crisis". Within 24 hours of launch, 1 million views reached across all platforms leading to 6.21 million organic social views.

Online/Social Media (Youtube, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Greenpeace website)

The concept was designed around minimum waste and environmental impact: CGI and stock footage. The choice to use comedy, creating mannequin versions of Boris Johnson and Michael Gove, introduces some distance to these politicians and places their dummy personas in direct conflict with their empty promises. The use of CGI makes critical big data about humanity's impact on our planet more relatable and understandable, better visualising the huge data figures involved in climate science and helping express to the average consumer the enormity of the problem when statistics are converted into a true visual representation.

Using the latest real-world data and CGI simulation to visualise the scale and impact of the problem. A special software called 'Tyflow’ was used to create the avalanche of plastic - it's able to calculate millions of items interacting with each other in an accurate manner. In total, the film required roughly 14,600 hours of render time or 20 months. The CO2 emitted was compensated for.