Debunking Plastic Myths
An interactive, illustrated website that turns scientific research on plastic waste into something a wide, non-specialist audience can explore and understand.
| Client | GRID Arendal |
|---|---|
| UN SDGs | 12 Responsible Consumption And Production 13 Climate Action |
| Impact | Norway |
| Technologies | PHP, MySQL |
01 Introduction
GRID-Arendal is a non-profit environmental communications centre based in Norway. They turn environmental data into accessible, science-based information products, and provide capacity-building services that support better environmental governance.
With support from Norway's Ministry of Climate and Environment, GRID-Arendal asked us to build a website presenting 10 common myths about plastics and plastic waste.
Drawing on scientific evidence from publications, grey literature, and practitioners in the field, each myth is debunked in turn. Together, the myths offer insight into the issues around plastic recycling, showing how interconnected the challenges are and what can be done about them - while acknowledging that fully analysing plastic production and waste needs more work still.
02 The Project
We were initially given only the potential headings for each myth. From there, we wireframed different ways of presenting the science so a non-scientific audience could take it in easily.
Rather than just making something attractive, we put real research into making the project memorable. We started by finding a typeface the project could own - one with personality, authentic and on-theme, serious but still a little playful.
Then we worked through colour. To avoid the cliché of over-used recycling greens, we drew instead on the vivid, highly coloured world of plastic itself. For an alternative palette, we looked to sun-bleached plastics - once-rich colours that had lost their vitality - set against dark and dirty tones. From these foundations, we explored a range of layout options.
We chose a hand-drawn, illustrative approach: friendly, distinctive, and memorable. Our team drew the artwork by hand and added interactive hotspots that reveal the research behind each myth. Every myth came with action points, detailed references, and downloadable PDFs.
The Debunking Plastic Myths home page invites visitors to explore the plastic value chain through an illustrated interactive scene. Ten numbered hotspots are placed across the artwork - from recycling facilities to high streets - each one opening a different myth for users to investigate at their own pace.
Each myth opens onto its own page, pairing the misconception (struck through) with the evidence that debunks it and a clear "So what can we do?" response. Users can download a PDF summary, share to social media, and move between all ten myths using the numbered navigation bar along the bottom.
03 Conclusion
The project celebrates the progress made in plastic waste management, while being honest about how far there still is to go to reach our recycling goals and a genuine circular economy.
It was warmly received in its original English, and has since been translated into Spanish, French, Russian, Chinese, and Arabic. Chinese and Arabic brought a few small challenges, but the approach we took in the original build meant these were minor.