St Mary Redcliffe Parish Magazine February/March 2020

Beauty in ashes
Tuesday 25 February to Tuesday 14 April 2020
St Mary Redcliffe Church, Bristol BS1 6RA
Artists, climate change and the human touch
ARTISTS respond to the natural
world in an exhibition, during
the season of Lent, of works exploring
creation, nature and the human
touch amid local and national
declarations of climate emergency.
BEAUTY IN ASHES weaves together
something of the to-and-fro between
the glory of the world, our stripping
of its resources, our urgent need to
live within its and our means, and
our unquenchable thirst for beauty.
The human touch pervades the
artists’ choices of media and subject
matter — in textiles, drawing, paint,
photography and more.
at church | lent appeal
— ECO BRICKS AND HOW TO MAKE THEM
LIZ HEWITT; LENT ECO TEAM
AN ‘ECO BRICK’ IS A BUILDING BLOCK
made entirely from unrecyclable plastic.
It is created by filling a plastic bottle with
clean, dry plastic until it is packed so tightly it
resembles a traditional brick and then can be used
as a building block. Plastic doesn’t biodegrade,
it photodegrades, meaning that it slowly breaks
down into smaller and smaller pieces. So plastic
is extremely durable, making it ideal as a building
material. Throughout the world Eco bricks are being
used to construct furniture and even buildings,
such as composting toilet blocks, and school
buildings in Guatemala and South Africa. Here in the
UK they are being used, for instance, to construct greenhouses
and children’s playgrounds.
What type of plastic to collect for Eco bricks? Any type of plastic can
be used. Plastic that can’t be recycled is ideal for Eco bricks — that can’t
be scrunched and is firm and crisp to the touch. Examples include biscuit
and sweet wrappers; chocolate trays; greeting card bags; plastic wrapped
around flowers and around clothing (high street and online shopping);
plastic that the council can’t recycle (some coloured plastics), and more.
Image: “Nest”; Jenny Purrett; charcoal on paper; 2008 | courtesy of the artist
However... please recycle plastics if possible — much can be, so check with
your local council to find out what they can take. Please note that some
supermarkets recycle used crisp packets and soft, stretchy types of plastic
bag, or any that can be scrunched into a ball or torn by hand — bags used
for fruit, vegetables, bread and so on; carrier bags; bubble wrap; pet food
packets; coffee packets; clingfilm, and so on. Tesco have 5 stores in Bristol
with recycling points, and Sainsburys, Waitrose and Morrisons will recycle
soft, stretchy plastics in in-store boxes — plus a company called TerraCycle*
offers free recycling to communities of many unrecyclable plastics.
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*see overleaf