We visited Newtown Creek which is located in the middle of Queens and
Brooklyn. Used to be a salt marsh, then a booming industrial site,
Newtown Creek is now home to the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment
plant, and is situated around factories, companies’ parking lots, film
studios, warehouses and scrapyards. More information about the site
can be found here:
http://www.newtowncreekalliance.org/history-of-newtown-creek/.
Site Critique
Site Visit
Site's Vision
While the site struggles with wastewater treatment whenever it rains,
progress is being made. The sludge from the treatment is turned into
natural gas, which supports a part of the energy needed. Always in
progress, the site is still cared for, and is a priority from the New
York City Department of Environmental Protection. Early on in the
research of the project, shell-shocked by the emptiness of the site,
we forgot that there is actually a community of people working there.
Besides the plant, there were people working in scrap yards,
warehouses, and even film studios. They represent the logistic of the
city, and process the physical needs of the city. The grayness of the
water also hides the bustling ecology waiting to recover. In what is
left, there were multiple species of birds and marine life spotted at
Newtown Creek, from American Eel to horseshoe crabs. Similar to how
community gardens around the city revitalize an abandoned piece of
land, we found Newtown Creek Alliance to be making conscious efforts
in the act of restoring the site. We have focused the last two weeks
on looking at the site from an antagonistic perspective, and to be
focusing on the positivity of the site now allows strong hope for a
better future for Newtown Creek.
Future Object
Our future object takes into consideration the perceived issues
and differences with bioplastics nature. Its sensitivity to heat
and water makes it fantastic for creating temporary structures
which actually have a beneficial impact on the environment instead
of staying in landfills for thousands of years. Our object is a
seed pouch, which hypothetically would either go into a greenhouse
on the Newton Creek site over the winter or be placed directly
into the ground. The plastic would be infused with organic
fertilizer such as worm castings and the decay overtime would aid
the seed in the pouch grow. In creating the seed pouch, we
experimented with putting several different materials into the
bioplastic itself. In some pieces, there is turmeric and wood from
the original site, and in others, there are coffee grounds. We
used several different pieces to exemplify the ability for the
plastics to be re-used for several projects— if a person at Newton
Creek used a sheet of bioplastic for a temporary seasonal
structure, the scraps and excess can then be used to make seed
pouches for the Newton Creek Nature Walk garden. That way there is
no waste. We loosely sewed the pouches together because thread is
decomposable and also shows the ease of creating multiple of these
pouches. They stay together long enough for the plants to grow
outside or in a greenhouse without traditional plastic pots, which
lessens the amount of waste in the Newton Creek environment.
Future Material - Bioplastic
In creating bioplastic, 1 part glycerol is added to at least 5
parts water and 2 parts glycerin, with other add-ins being
cornstarch, gelatin and vinegar. It is all boiled down on the
stove into a viscous liquid, which can then be poured over
anything to create a plastic sheet in any shape. Bioplastic can
feasibly have all of the characteristics of conventional plastic
but with some differences which can be seen as caveats. When
creating bioplastic, the water, gelatin, cornstarch and glycerol
content is variable and can make plastics of several different
textures and uses. For example, a plastic made solely with
glycerol and gelatin had a looser texture, and we could see it
being used for temporary structures. When placed in warm water, it
immediately begins to break down, making it easier to mold.
Bioplastic made with those components along with cornstarch and
vinegar is more akin to traditional plastics in texture and
longevity, and could be used for windows and more stable interior
design elements. A caveat, however, is our material’s overall
sensitivity to heat and water. This would only be a detractor to
the material if you directly compare it to actual plastic, which
it isn’t. It can be used seasonally.
Future Site
Working with the sensitivity of the material to heat and focusing on
the season aspect of the material, we decided to create a collage that
shows how bioplastic could be used at the site. The left image is the
bioplastic in big sheets wrapping around an already existing
structure, creating a temporary tent that people can come in and use
during the winter. As the material breaks down with heat, we believe
that bioplastic could be used as a fertilizer or seed pouches that
fall apart over the summer and support the local organisms around
there. The right image is basically the same idea, however, we are
thinking that bioplastic sheets could also be used to wrap around the
existing plants during the winter, protecting them from the elements.
