This article examines how children encounter and relate to plastics in their everyday lives, going beyond traditional environmental education approaches. The research involved 13 children aged 11-15 from diverse socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds at a secondary school in Birmingham, England. The study employed multiple methods including interviews, a mobile phone app that allowed children to document plastic encounters, and experimental arts-based workshops where children created sculptures from "waste" plastics.
The researchers argue that while plastics are ubiquitous globally—present in tap water, soil, rock strata, and human bodies—and represent a "sticky" and indeterminate problem, research specifically on children's encounters with plastics is limited. Most existing research focuses on environmental education rather than children's everyday, embodied experiences with plastics.
The study identified three key themes in children's plastic encounters. First, children demonstrated complex and critical knowledge about plastics in consumer cultures, often questioning the usefulness of certain plastic items and exhibiting awareness of potential hazards. For example, during a sculpture-making activity, children debated the relative usefulness of different plastic objects, with one child simultaneously describing Kinder Surprise Egg containers as "useless" in general but "useful" to him personally for games.
Second, the research revealed how plastics are entrained in banal, routine aspects of everyday life, often in ways that are difficult to articulate. Children frequently struggled to explain their interactions with ubiquitous plastic items like shopping bags, clothes hangers, and household objects. The study highlighted how children questioned what it means to "use" plastics when they are embedded in or enveloping other objects, and noted the ambiguous physical interactions with plastic items that often go unnoticed
Finally, the researchers observed how moments of "fun" and creative speculation could defamiliarize habitual encounters with plastics. During a sculpture-making workshop, children engaged playfully with plastic items, finding new values for them—such as recognizing the emotional value of plastic flowers used at graves—and making aesthetic judgments about plastic objects typically considered waste.
The study concludes by suggesting that these themes offer starting points for future research about children's encounters with plastics and similar materials. The authors argue for approaches that extend beyond formal environmental education to acknowledge the complex, contested, and often contradictory ways children already interact with plastics in their everyday lives. Rather than simply viewing plastics as a "problem" to be solved, the research suggests value in recognizing plastics as unavoidable companions in modern life while creating space for critical, creative engagement with their presence.
The Bottom Line
This study explores how children aged 11-15 interact with and understand plastics in their everyday lives. Moving beyond traditional environmental education approaches, the researchers used interviews, a mobile app, and arts-based workshops to investigate children's embodied, emotional, and routine encounters with plastics. Through collaborative research with 13 children in Birmingham, UK, the study revealed three key dimensions of children's plastic interactions: (1) critical knowledge about plastics embedded in consumer cultures, (2) banal, embodied everyday routines where plastics are simultaneously ubiquitous yet unnoticed, and (3) creative, playful engagement with plastics that opens possibilities for reimagining our relationships with these materials. The findings suggest environmental educators should consider children's existing, complex relationships with plastics rather than focusing solely on transmitting knowledge about plastic pollution. This approach acknowledges plastics as unavoidable companions in modern life while creating space for critical engagement with their presence.