greenpeace film attacks the UK's plastic policy by drowning boris johnson in it

greenpeace has unveiled an animated film that attacks the UK’s plastic policy — one that claims to be a leader in tackling plastic pollution. the environmental activists expose the fact that 1.8 million kilograms of the UK’s plastic is exported to other countries every single day and to amplify the message, the film shows what this amount would look like if dumped in downing street. 

screenshots taken from the greenpeace video

titled wasteminster: a downing street disaster, the 2-minute film by greenpeace was created in collaboration with creative collective studio birthplace and produced by park village. it begins with boris johnson giving a speech outside 10 downing street when a plastic rain begins to fall on him. the amount is so massive that the prime minister is swept away.

‘the plastic we carefully wash and sort for recycling is being shipped off to other countries where it overwhelms their waste systems and much of it ends up illegally dumped or burnt, poisoning local people and polluting oceans and rivers,’ said sam chetan-welsh, political campaigner at greenpeace. ‘the government could put a stop to this but so far boris johnson is only offering half measures. we need a complete ban on all plastic waste exports and legislation to make UK companies reduce the amount of plastic they produce in the first place.’

‘we didn’t want to put words into boris’s mouth so we went through hours of interviews and speeches by boris and the government where plastic pollution and the environment were discussed and quotes were extracted,’ explained directors jorik dozy and sil van der woerd from studio birthplace. ‘all statements in the film were made by boris and the government.’

project info:

name: wasteminster: a downing street disaster

a film by: greenpreace
concept/production: studio birthplace
directors: jorik dozy, sil van der woerd
voiceovers: matt forde, jon culshaw
sound design: wavefarer audio
music composer: onn san
co-production: park village
CG production: method & madness