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Maltese Illustrator Redesigns Popular Film Posters To Highlight The Impact Of Plastic Waste On Our Oceans

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Warnings regarding plastic waste and its horrible implications for the seas around us have been coming at us from everywhere. Some countries have already started paving their way to ban plastic straws, while others have already implemented laws to reduce our plastic waste.

If we keep on generating the monstrous amounts of waste we are now, there will be way more plastic in the sea than fish. And this is not an exaggeration. Some of us don’t even realise that our waste is responsible for single-handedly causing the deaths of millions of marine life creatures. For all we know, mermaids aren’t around anymore because they all suffocated on plastic caps.

One Maltese artist has taken up the task of creating a series of super cute and shocking posters which implicate the damage that we cause when producing plastic waste. Created by Ed Dingli, these posters depict the damages that are being inflicted on our oceans.

“I got into design because I saw it as a compromise between art and business,” Dingli told Lovin Malta. “But the more I worked in the field, the more interested I became in using design for activism rather than as a selling tool.”

Ed also went on to explain that it is not just our fault, but even large corporations and governments are to blame for this excessive consumption. These entities make it hard for the consumer to live a plastic-free life as everything we buy is generally wrapped in tons of useless plastic wrappings.

“Things won’t change unless we put pressure on them, and start to make more mindful decisions with our spending,” he said. “We’re all quick to share these online campaigns and images on Facebook but we don’t realise how many bad choices we make in our lives on a daily basis. Refusing a plastic straw is not enough.”

“How many plastic bottles of water have you consumed this year? Remember that first toothbrush you bought as a child? Probably not, but it’s still somewhere on this earth or in the ocean.”

Ed works at Nice and Serious, an ethically driven creative agency who regularly work with purposeful brands and NGOs. Due to his work he constantly has to hear about the damaging effects our carelessness has on marine life. Talk about depressing.

“Of course, stats on paper are easy to ignore, so seeing their effect in real life in the BBC’s Blue Planet series was devastating,” Ed told Lovin Malta. “The tipping point came when I saw a photo series by the National Geographic about sea creatures trapped in plastic bags.”

“The impact that design has on society is much more interesting to me, and I believe it’s a powerful weapon for inspiring change,” Ed said. “Joining Nice and Serious gave me the perfect platform to do so.”

This whole plastic debate is a very popular one at the moment, but we see countless of campaigns on other issues, so it’s easy for us to become desensitised to the issues at hand.

These posters are aimed at stopping single-use plastics which are hands down 100% totally our race’s fault. The implication is that you can help by cutting down your own consumption of this abomination by opting for re-usable stuff.

“It’s easy to look at the scale of the problem and get disheartened,” Ed said. “But if we all started to be more conscious with our own personal decisions and live more in harmony with nature, then things will start to improve.”

“When I was a child, CFC’s were the problem everyone talked about,” Ed remembers. “People campaigned relentlessly and eventually change came about. Nowadays you barely hear about that problem anymore.”

“I used iconic sea-related movie posters to grab people’s attention. I wanted to create images that would stick in people’s minds. Most people are familiar with the iconic Jaws poster,” Ed told us.

Albeit being super cute, these illustrations are also a bit harrowing, given that Nemo is totally getting blinded by stuff and Willy is definitely not going to survive this time.

“Everyone loves Nemo and Free Willy. No one wants to see their favourite characters drowning in a sea of rubbish, but that’s the reality that marine life is currently facing.”

“I also felt it was important to give each image an accompanying action point, so the viewer could channel their anger or sadness into something useful. I did this by supporting campaigns like Worldy Cup, Bracenet, Ghostfishing, Greenpeace and WWF.”

The UK is planning to completely abolish plastic waste by 2040, and, Greenpeace is suggesting a ban on single-use plastic by the year 2025.

Needless to say, the whole world needs to start acting now if we want to have life in our seas.

Tag someone who’d love to check these illustrations out!

READ NEXT: Maltese Restaurant Stops An Insane Amount Of Plastic From Going To Waste With Simple Scheme

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