This research based paper proposes that London's current urban entanglement presents a unique opportunity to design collectively with plastic waste, co-creating new opportunities through the Designedisposal activist platform. As the strategic global node for organization of production, London's rubbish poses a particular challenge in managing 20 million tons per year. Although top-down Municipal Waste Management Strategies (MWMS) are gathering a momentum, only 48.5% of London's plastic ottle trash is recycled, and this proudly delivered statistic is a devastating reflection of Western Society's present and future landfill contribution. Over one million tons of mixed household plastic packaging is disposed of in the UK per annum, so the drive to develop socially sustainable options for mature waste management service is gaining a momentum. KraalD is a design and social narrative that revolves around the Designedisposal manifesto and promotes minimisation of London's future landfill. The Designedisposal asterism strives to incorporate design activism, craft making, exposition, co-workshop engagement and trash aesthetics; To facilitate rather than dictate, using the exhibition and installation as the platform. It argues that a changing relation to disposal is a changing relation to oneself. The aim is to co-design new values and induce social-emotional relations towards urban plastic waste, promoting discard ethos and ocean pollution awareness.
Further, this ongoing practice led research is to re-perceive the Transformation by Designedisposal MRes
Design theses, Goldsmiths, 2013; beyond the product design vocabulary, exploding the design advocacy
framework within socio-cultural, environmental, ethical and critical discard practices and theories. This research paper suggests the notion of transgression, initially formulated by George Batteille as a flip- flop approach, continually crossing of boundaries for formulating everyday alternatives to socially normative notions of devalued waste. Therefore, a central question will explore: How can design practice advocacy lead to social partnership opportunities, reconnecting London's presently fragmented waste management services with local community of users and citizens?