17 February 2014

Big ball of tights


The ball makes a statement - the nylon that tights (pantyhose) are made of isn't recyclable, it goes into landfill - imagine all the tights that are thrown away every year, and imagine how big that ball could get - perhaps not as big as the earth, but huge nonetheless.

"Of all the objects we crafted re-using tights, people seemed to be particularly attracted to our growing ball of tights – they were in awe, touched it, hugged it and reflected on it. The ball attracted a lot of spontaneous interest whilst illustrating the environmental impact of un-recycled tights: the ball may become as big as the Earth!

There is a growing link between clothing and the environment; tights strongly revealed how environmental hazards and risks are getting closer to us. There is no easy way to re-cycle tights and every week millions of pairs of ladies tights are littered. However, we also discovered that environmental campaigns do not need to show dramatic images of pollution and environmental disasters and/or gloomy statistics to make people realise the importance of adopting more sustainable behaviours – it does not need to be scary to touch people profoundly.

A large number of tights contain nylon, a non-biodegradable material that often ends up in landfills. Why don’t we produce biodegradable tights?"

Thanks to Linda for the link.

3 comments:

Cate Rose said...

You were making balls a few years back, although not out of nylons. What became of those?

magsramsay said...

At Kew, requests are put out periodically for tights : they are used in the Tropical Nursery to tie orchids onto bark.

Vicki Miller said...

I knew there was a reason I never wear stockings. Of course they are great for doll making!