A massive mound of plastic in the Pacific Ocean becomes a country with its own passport, flag and "Debris" currency, in this design proposal intended to raise awareness about ocean pollution.
The Trash Isles imagines the Great Pacific Garbage Patch ? a pile of primarily plastic waste floating in the northern part of the Pacific Ocean ? as an official country recognised by the United Nations.
To add gravitas to the proposal, London-based designer Mario Kerkstra has created a passport for the country
Advertising creatives Michael Hughes and Dal Evans De Almeida, known as Dal and Mike, launched the proposal to force world leaders to address the scale of the ocean trash, which they say has accumulated to the size of France.
"We knew that, even though the trash patch covers an area the size of a country, it is easy for world leaders to ignore it ? the saying 'out of sight out of mind' could not be more applicable than with this issue," Hughes told Dezeen. "We wanted to come up with a way to ensure world leaders can't ignore it anymore, a way to stick it under their noses, literally," he added.
The design features former US president Al Gore, who is supporting the proposal
Dal and Mike are teaming up with social media news company LADbible and non-profit organisation The Plastic Oceans Foundation on the project.
They submitted an application to the United Nations earlier this year, coinciding with World's Ocean Day, to make the project a reality. ...