Flip-flop boats, ‘trashion’ and the Bag Monster: the art of discarded plastic – in pictures

Delegates take photos in front of a giant sculpture of a tap pouring out plastic bottles picked up in Nairobi’s Kibera neighbourhood, during the UN environment assembly in 2022. The assembly met in Kenya to discuss a binding international framework to address the growing problem of plastic waste in the world’s oceans, rivers and landscape.

Plastic Paradise, by Australian artist Kathy Allam, was part of the Sculpture by the Sea exhibition along the Bondi Beach to Tamarama coastal walk in Sydney in 2017. She says: ‘By reusing and revaluing discarded bottles I am exploring our own current dilemma of living with plastic. Can detritus be transformed into something joyous, sublime and beautiful?’

Pufferfish by Mylene Holroyd, 2017. The artist uses materials woven with recycled ghost net – which chokes the life out of marine creatures in the Gulf of Carpentaria, off the northern coast of Australia – to raise awareness of the environmental impact of discarded fishing nets.

Plastic Tree, 2014, by Cameroon artist Pascale Marthine Tayou, on display in Basel, Switzerland.

Sculptures made from recycled materials in Hanoi, Vietnam. Sixteen artworks made out of materials such as plastic bottles, barrels and old wheels are displayed along the street to raise environmental awareness among residents.

Ivorian artist Aristide Kouamé, who creates art from plastic waste, works on a piece made of abandoned flip-flops collected from a beach in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. The country hosted World Environment Day 2023 on 5 June with more than 150 countries taking part, which focused on ‘solutions to plastic pollution’.

A visitor poses for photographs at the eco-art exhibition Anima Mundi: Soul of the World in Bangkok, Thailand, by Indonesian artist Mulyana, August 2019. Specialising in fabulous seascapes, Mulyana uses discarded metal, fabrics and materials such as rubber and plastic in his work to raise awareness of the environment.

365 Days of Plastic by Henny Burnett at the York Art Gallery, May 2021.

A model wears clothing by Australia-based artist Marina DeBris, who creates intricate ‘trashion’ from discarded material washed up on the beach to raise awareness of marine pollution.

Volunteers help during the construction of the artwork Plastic Bags by Cameroon artist Pascale Marthine Tayou in Leiden, the Netherlands, June 2015.

An aerial photo from 2019 showing a 68-metre whale image formed by plastic waste collected from the ocean to raise awareness on marine conservation at Rudong Yangkou harbour in Jiangsu province, China, June 2019.

Flipflopi, the world’s first 100% recycled plastic dhow, embarks on its 500km maiden voyage from Lamu, Kenya, to Zanzibar, in January 2019, visiting schools and communities, sharing solutions and changing mindsets along the way. Supported by the UN Clean Seas programme, the expedition aimed to raise awareness of the more than 12m tonnes of plastic being in dumped in the ocean every year.

The world’s largest waste pyramid – made from 18 tonnes of plastic from the Nile – was unveiled before Cop27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, in 2022. It marked the beginning of a movement called the 100yr Cleanup – an initiative seeking to fund large-scale rubbish cleanups for the next century and drive accountability for the single-use plastic problem.

A sculpture of a dead whale choked by plastics on the beach at Naic, south of Manila, May 2017. Through the art installation, Greenpeace Philippines highlighted the huge problem of plastics polluting the ocean.

The Tel Aviv skyline seen through three arches made from plastic bottles sourced from a landfill dump that was transformed into part of Ariel Sharon Park, a 2,000-acre (809 hectare) green space overlooking the Israeli city, October 2007.

SOUP: 500+, by photographic artist Mandy Barker, is composed of more than 500 pieces of plastic debris found in the digestive tract of a dead albatross chick in the North Pacific Gyre, to raise awareness of the damage to marine life from plastic pollution.

In Kenya, non-profit Ocean Sole turns flip-flops reclaimed from the ocean into colourful handmade animal toys, sculptures and upcycled art.

A 12 metre-high whale sculpture created from five tonnes of reclaimed ocean plastic on display in Bruges, for the Bruges Triennial 2018.

The Bag Monster in New York’s Times Square, which aimed to educate consumers on the environmental impact of plastic bags, September 2010.

A sculpture called Plastic Pile of Sh!t, 2023 on Bondi Beach, 5 June 2023, in Sydney, Australia. The four metre-high artwork is designed to represent the amount of plastic dumped in the ocean every 30 seconds.