Plastic island. Cascais 2015

We went to Portugal last September to carry out a floating installation made of recycled plastic bottles.

Our intention was to replicate, at a smaller scale, the so-called “eighth continent” made of plastic and garbage which is alarmingly taking over great areas of the Pacific. Governments remain passive before this situation either because they lack interest or because they are incapable to solve this problem. They are allowing this huge mass of about 4 million tons of more or less crushed plastic to shape about 22,200 kilometers (about 13,794 miles) of irregular surface which goes 30 meters (about 98 feet) deep under the water, and is destroying most of the marine wildlife in the area and transforming the ecosystem.

We went a little closer, to the Atlantic – to Cascais Bay to be precise.  We used 5,000 plastic bottles which were given to us by a local recycling plant. They were clean and closed so they could float.

We created a structure to which we attached all the containers and put it over the water at about 100 meters (about 328 feet) off the coast. All those people that were enjoying the last days of summer at the beach were flabbergasted when they saw our structure.

The 5,000 bottles took over a rectangular surface of approximately 10 x 15 meters (about 32 x 49 feet) into which we introduced light and send afloat. The recycled container platform was anchored so we could retrieve it after 6 days.

Many thanks to all those friends that helped us out selflessly and that also hosted us during the 10 sunny days we spent in Cascais. We also want to thank all the professionals that render their knowledge to shape our piece.

Hopefully, we will be able to make an improved version of this piece in the near future – this time in the Pacific.

We thank Lola Martinez for her great photos.

Thanks also to Javier Vidal and Adrian Sotés for the music accompanying our images.

Lastly, we want to invite you to watch the video by Charles Moore on the «Eighth Plastic Continent», which he describes quite clearly.

Time of installation: 7 days.
Damages: none.
Exhibition time: 4 days.

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