Microplastics

Blackburn, Manuella

Abstract

Microplastics is an acousmatic work derived solely from plastic sound sources. These sounds are predominately from waste accumulated from household use (empty milk containers, bottles, straws, lids, cling film, and wrappers).

Further sources were captured at the Manchester Education Centre and Materials Recovery Facility in Sharston (England, UK), which illuminated ways in which plastics are separated and sorted by the Aladdin machine. This visit provided an eye-opening visual for the monumental scale of plastic waste, which is represented sonically half-way through the work through an unprocessed raw recording of plastic rubbish being dumped out into a colossal mountain of unbelievable proportions.

Further to these recordings and sources are sounds collected from micro-sized plastics, sourced from the south coast of England courtesy of Rob Arnold (visual artist and microplastics cleanup expert). These microplastic pieces, no larger that 5 mm in diameter, are a mix of worn-down remnants of past plastic objects (lids, shards, tubing, rims and strips) and ‘nurdles’ or ‘bio-beads’ waste, which present hazardous, detrimental ecological damage to marine life and the environment. The plastics industry converts nurdles into plastic products, however the movement and transportation of these tiny pellets of plastic regularly encounter accidental spills, spreading out into water and drainage systems. Bio-beads are equally problematic, entering the sea via their use in sewage filtration systems. These minuscule plastic particles can be mistaken for food by marine life and birds in the environment.

This work explores the sound world of this disastrous pollution and unfortunate particles debris that now inhabit the world in insurmountable quantities.

Citation

Blackburn, M. (2021). Microplastics. [digital fixed media and CD]. BEAST FEaST 2021: Concert 5, Birmingham University

• Other Type: Composition
• Acceptance Date: Jan 31, 2021
• Online Publication Date: Oct 10, 2024
• Publication Date: Apr 21, 2021
• Deposit Date: Jan 21, 2025
• Keywords: Microplastics, plastic waste, composition
• Public URL: https://keele-repository.worktribe.com/output/1049669
• Related Public URLs: https://electrocd.com/en/album/6641-interruptions
• Additional Information: This is a composition published on an album released by empreintes DIGITALes, Montreal, Canada. ; Link to audio: https://electrocd.com/en/piste/imed_24194-1.2--microplastics