Eduardo Leal

Documentary Photographer
   
Plastic Trees
Location: Macau S.A.R., China
Nationality: Portuguese
Biography: Eduardo Leal is a Portuguese documentary photographer usually based in Macau, China. Previously he worked for several years in South America. He graduated in Journalism at Escola Superior de Jornalismo (ESJ) and has a Masters in Photojournalism... MORE
Public Story
Plastic Trees
Copyright Eduardo Leal 2024
Updated Nov 2016
Location Uyuni, Bolivia
Topics Documentary, Environmental, Fine Art, Still life

The world consumes 1 million every minute, it was considered by Guinness World Book of Records as “the most ubiquitous consumer item in the world”, but the all useful plastic bag has become the main source of pollution worldwide. It can be found everywhere on the planet from the seaside, the bottom of the ocean, the Arctic and even at the top of the world, on Mount Everest. Since most of the plastic isn’t biodegradable and it is a durable material it can last for hundreds of years in the environment. 

The problem is even more acute in developing countries where waste management infrastructures are not really developed and where the population used to throw everything away, was not educated to the long life of this material. This accumulation of plastic bags in the environment cause deterioration of the landscapes, agriculture soils and it is associated with the death of domestic and wild animals. 

Plastic Trees series was made to call for attention to this problem, focusing on the spreading of plastic bags on the Bolivian Altiplano, where millions of bags travel with the wind until they got entangled in native bushes, damaging the beautiful landscapes. 

Sadly these images don't portray an isolated case, they can be seen in many countries all over the world.

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