The Recycling Distraction
Rhys Gruebel
MFA Design Research and Development, 2022
Abstract:
The Recycling Distraction is an evidence-based argument that municipal recycling is ineffective at reducing waste and preventing pollution. Instead, recycling depoliticizes waste, pollution, and environmental responsibility issues so manufacturers can avoid public scrutiny for their share of environmental problems. Recycling puts an outsized burden on individual Americans for properly managing “consumer” waste. Rhys assembled evidence from historians, sociologists, economists, scientists, and other authorities to develop his thesis argument. To share this work with the public, Rhys is writing, designing, and publishing the website, RecyclingDistraction.com, which will be available in spring 2022. The objective of this project is to challenge the popular public narrative that recycling is the best way for people to protect the planet from waste and pollution.
Rhys Gruebel is a practicing graphic designer with 15 years of experience designing communications materials, brand identities, and websites. Through his graduate studies, Rhys explores ways for visual communication designers to work on environmental problems like plastic pollution and climate change. Rhys received a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Design from Ohio State in 2002.
See Rhys’ other work at linkedin.com
