Bringing back the good name – a museum of plastic about plastic

In May 2021, another museum of a special kind was created in front of the Reina Sofía Museum in Madrid: a Plastic Museum. It was not just a museum ABOUT plastic, but MADE OF plastic. The media response to the campaign of the EsPlásticos association was huge.

In an interview with K-MAG, Luis Cediel and Abelardo Bethencourt talk about the construction and dismantling of the Plastic Museum, the message behind it, and the extent to which plastics act as allies in the fight against climate change.

A few weeks ago, you opened the world's first Plastic Museum. What can one imagine by that?

Luis Cediel & Abelardo Bethencourt: It was a campaign with unsuspected forms, it was born as a physical and real museum, in front of the Reina Sofía Museum in Madrid, dedicated to plastic and showing everything related to health and technological innovation.

But this museum not only surprised and generated content due to the important uses of plastic. What made it unique is that it was entirely built with different types of plastic: floors, walls, doors and ceilings were made entirely of this material. Plastics that, in addition to being modern were sustainable and recyclable.

On May 17, World Recycling Day, the museum was dismantled piece by piece to recycle them entirely. After documenting and accompanying this entire process, we presented the second part of the campaign, in which the parts of the museum would continue to live recycled, turned into new objects.

"I WAS A MUSEUM BEFORE", is the collection of souvenirs from our Plastic Museum, which in addition to being design objects had this great peculiarity: they were produced with plastic, which only a few weeks before, a museum in Madrid held.

What was exhibited in the Plastic Museum?

Cediel & Bethencourt: In the museum you could find different pieces made entirely of plastic that showed the importance of this material in our daily live. The was from a bionic hand to a construction material. You could also find a respirator and a plasma bag while a 3D printer was making live prosthetics for broken bones. There was also a work of art made entirely of plastic or a piece of optical fiber on display that shows us that without plastic we would not have Internet.

The first online opinion analysis we carried out on plastic showed that 62% of users had a negative opinion of plastics compared to 8% who valued them positively. In addition, in the online conversation, the topic of plastics was related to terms such as "pollution of the seas" or "overuse".

Behind this story there is a much more complex reality where plastics are also shown as allies against climate change (their low weight favors the saving of fossil fuels when applied to airplanes, cars) or that to fight against plastic pollution we must educate people to properly recycle and reduce its unnecessary use.

It was also important to communicate many of the very important uses that plastics have in our lives. It was during the health crisis when we raised the project and came to the conclusion that it reinforced our message: plastics have been an essential ally in the fight of the pandemic (syringe, respirators, gloves).

That is why EsPlásticos, the association that encompasses the entire plastics value chain, decides to carry out an action that works on the reputation of its industry and, therefore, of the material.

What was the response to the museum or the campaign?

Cediel & Bethencourt: The museum managed to create an online conversation of more than 320K mentions. 72% of the publications were positive and most of them were linked to these topics: importance of recycling, unknown properties and social utility.

During the first week, 126 press articles were published, all of them positive, detailing and illustrating with photos the museum, its objectives, and the main messages to convey. The total reach of the campaign is estimated to be 65 million people thanks to wide-ranging media coverage and international dissemination.

Where do you currently see a need to catch up when it comes to the topic of plastics and environmental protection? Who do you think is responsible here?

Cediel & Bethencourt: In order to change the general opinion that exists about plastics, more campaigns have to be carried out with this ambition and impact. There is a prevailing message about plastics that we can only change with creative and impactful communication actions.

The plastics industry has made great strides in protecting the environment. It has advanced in a technical way but it hasn’t communicate it. Now there are many types of plastic and recycling is the norm in advanced countries. The challenge now is to know how to tell it and convey it to society.