2017 October 21 - October 29

During Dutch Design Week 2017, ECO-oh! presented ‘The New Normal: Let’s recycle for life’ at the Ketelhuisplein. ECO-oh! is collaborating with four Dutch designers: Basten Leijh, LINT landscape architecture, Simone Post and Studio Thier&vanDaalen. 

Welcome to the world of household plastics recycling. Wherever you look, you’ll find articles of plastic packaging. They form a monumental mountain of waste that is putting our planet’s ecosystem under pressure. Taking an acceptance of this reality as our starting point, we at ECO-oh! are working every day to improve solutions for recycling yoghurt pots, butter dishes and other small plastic items. As such, we find it extremely important to offer an alternative to incineration and to make people aware that mixed plastics can also be used as raw materials.

The exhibition 'The New Normal' gives insight into innovative technologies in order to demonstrate the endless possibilities of our materials.

While Simone Post emphasizes the beauty of plastics with her inspirational book, Basten Leijh indicates that the act of carefully selecting colours has a major impact on how the quality of a product is perceived. “Like colour compositions in pointillist paintings, the variation of colour combinations will result in attractive products in the future," Simone Post agrees. Landscape architects of LINT demonstrate exactly how much plastic waste societies produce with an impressive panorama, whereas Studio Thier &vanDaalen have applied a vast array of techniques to investigate the possibilities as well as the limitations of the material, focussing specifically on the flexibility thereof.

All of this comes together in a highly ambitious project that can be seen as a commentary on modern day consumption.