Rising Above Plastics

Thanks to the tenacity of British photographer Michelle Cassar, 35, the Arrifana Sunset Fest on 31st July is starting a trend to become plastic free.

Instead of handing out drinks in plastic cups and dressing them with straws, visitors will be encouraged to bring their own mugs (and be eligible for a free Sagres beer), or they’ll be offered drinks they buy in mugs that have been donated.

In a perfect world, everyone would be reducing their use of plastics - but the big question is how to make manufacturers stop gratuitously producing them? Can people-power make any kind of difference?

Well, as we write, “drop off” points for mug donations (in return for tickets) have been organised along the west coast and in Lagos (see details below).

And before the event, festival organisers are promoting a beach-clean on Monte Clérigo beach (near Arrifana) this Sunday between 4pm and 8pm, where a number of free tickets will be handed out to volunteer collectors.

So how did this example of civic responsibility come about?

“It all began after the first beach-clean I took part in”, Cassar, who lives in Aljezur, tells. “I suddenly realised how much plastic there was out there - and then I did some research...”

Her research - all easily effected over the Internet - showed her how plastic is polluting the world’s oceans.

On the first page of a Wikipedia article on plastics, she read that: “there are an estimated 46.000 pieces of plastic per square kilometre of the world’s oceans. Much of it is in a gyre of plastic pollution in the central North Pacific Ocean known as «The Great Pacific Garbage Patch», responsible for killing a million seabirds and 100.000 marine mammals every year”.

“That gyre is estimated to be the size of Portugal, Germany and the UK combined - and it’s not the only one. There are four others, including one in the Atlantic,” Cassar adds.

She also found a «Youtube» clip put out by the Plastic Oceans Foundation stating that in 1999 plastic outweighed plankton by 6:1. Only a decade later that ratio had increased to 36:1.

And she saw endless heartbreaking film clips of animals suffocating or being smothered by plastics found in the ocean.

“There’s even an island in the middle of the Pacific, miles and miles from civilization, littered with dead albatross chicks because their parents have mistaken the plastic they’ve found in the ocean for food, and fed it to them!

Cassar’s research instantly changed the way she lived her life. And she went on to coin her own new age mantra - a step beyond that of the 3Rs. Her’s is “Rethink, Refuse!”

“Once I learnt plastics can’t be recycled, I felt cheated! I found a website called “Rise Above Plastics” that showed how plastic is killing millions of marine animals, including birds, turtles, dolphins and whales, and poisoning our food chain and environment.”

“The only answer is reduction at source, which means reducing the amount of plastic we all use in our daily lives. Even small daily actions can make a huge difference...”

Indeed Michelle and partner Jonny reckon they’ve “refused” 4,680 plastic bags - one of the most polluting forms of plastic as it is a “single use” item that cannot be downgraded/ recycled - since adopting the “Rethink, Refuse” policy in November 2008.

And it was Michelle’s insistence on taking her tin mug and cutlery with her to every music event in the neighbourhood that got events’ organisers thinking...

“Taking my own crockery to an event did feel strange at first,” she smiles, “but it became a lot easier when people understood why I was doing it.”

“None of the shops I go into in Aljezur would dream of offering me a plastic bag now!” She laughs. “In fact, I am so glad you’re carrying this article, as at least the Portuguese people in the farmer’s market will be able to read in their own language why I insist on them tipping everything straight into my shopping basket!”

Oceanographer and sailing boat captain, Charles J. Moore - who unwittingly sailed into the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in the late 90s and never looked at plastic the same way again, said at a recent TEDX talk run by the Plastic Pollution Coalition: “Let’s start at local level to fight the plastic plague”.

This is just what Michelle Cassar, and now the organisers of Arrifana’s Sunset Fest, are doing. Cassar is hoping the stock of mugs gathered will set the foundation for “Cups for the Community” - a plan she has for a stock of reusable crockery for all local events.

“It doesn’t matter how mis-matched they are - whether ceramic or clay. The only thing that matters is that they’re not plastic and they won’t end up polluting the planet!

“An amazing spin off would be if we could inspire local crafts people to manufacture mugs for these events!”

But that’s for the future. For now, the most important thing on the agenda is to spread the word, and help publicise the first local “Rising Above Plastics” beach event in the borough of Aljezur. Who knows where it could lead...