Ayşe Kaplan Sarısaltık, Julian Gasson
Plastics are deeply embedded in contemporary life, making it difficult to envision a future without reliance on fossil oil-based polymers. However, increasing research highlights the widespread exposure of both more-than-humans and humans to the toxic chemicals released by these materials into bodies and the environment. In this study, we explore dynamics shaping the transition to bioplastics and how bioplastics are impactful within incumbent structural systems and cultural norms, enabling more desirable and regenerative future practices, particularly in the handling of bodily fluids such as pee, poo, and blood (PPB). Taking a systemic and relational design approach, inspired by posthumanist and more-than-human perspectives, we reconsider the body as leaky rather than contained, recognising that current practices for handling PPB, such as the use of menstrual products and diapers, are highly dependent on plastic. Through a qualitative thematic analysis of a co-creation workshop conducted with international polymer experts, we identify key barriers, opportunities, and dynamics shaping the transition to bioplastic futures. Our findings indicate that while intervention points already exist, major obstacles include political and industrial vested interests, cultural norms, and inadequate dissemination of information, and waste management challenges. In this context, we see the bioplastics pathway as one of many in a pluralistic approach to proposing multiple, interconnected and desirable futures. We argue that rather than serving as a simple substitute for oil-based plastics, meaningful and impactful change requires systemic, relational and interdisciplinary action and shifts in both materials and social practices.
Keywords: bioplastics, body fluids, systemic design, relational approach