Take a breath, face the consequences.
Every day, people create trash, usually without thinking about it. While our organic waste can be returned to the earth, plastics and metal, especially in the form of technological products that contain a variety of components (e-waste), are shuttled around the world to be destroyed, creating toxic chemicals in the process and continuing to fill up trash containers.
At this point, throwing things away has become second nature, something we don’t even think about - just like breathing. The team wanted to highlight the ways our lack of action can still have serious consequences by developing an interactive exhibit.
Upon arrival, a disembodied computerized voice will instruct the user to wear a mask (model courtesy of https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4242337) and begin to breathe.The lemon peels on the mask create a nice smell, reminding the user of the power of natural ingredients. As they breathe, particles will fall from the top, covering the pile of organic waste and avoiding the pile of e-waste, showing how organic waste can be part of the earth again while e-waste isn’t. The voice will have more instructions, especially to hold a piece of smelly (metallic burning smells) cloth to their face and then return it to the ground, making them face the consequences of their lack of action in stopping the particles falling.
The team hopes that projects like this will encourage users to think differently about waste and their role in the production and disposal of technology.
