My Life As a Plastic Bottle
"I was born when the dinosaurs died and started rotting away underground "
This educational video is the first in a series to promote the 'cycle' in recycle and environmental stewardship. We follow the journey of ethane gas, a natural resource, in the first person, demystifying it's path through extraction, construction into a product, first and the many post-consumer uses for recycled plastic.
"We get to Live On"
“My Life as a Plastic Bottle”
Educational Video Production
Background Information - Producers
Jule Asterisk
The writer/director of “My Life as a Plastic Bottle” is the Landfill Manager at the Lesser Slave Regional Waste Management Facility. She is a trained actor, dancer and choreographer, having performed with the Alberta Ballet Company around Alberta as well as modern dance and theatre companies in Toronto, Montreal, Europe, New York, Mexico, Japan and China.
Growing up on several continents has lead Jule to ask the question “Where are we going?” The secretary of the Regional Environmental Action Committee, Jule holds great regard and concern for our environment. She plays herself in the educational video, “My Life as a Plastic Bottle”.
Alberta teachers agree that resources such as the “My Life” Video series are sorely needed to implement the Grade IV Curriculum unit, “Waste and Our World”.
Screenplay Synopsis:
We meet our main character in his gaseous state in the earth below the place where a natural gas pipeline is being built. Grady tells the story of how it feels to flow out of the ground and along the pipeline, through compressor stations and be made into polyethylene. The polyethylene pellets chat excitedly together as they are shipped (by train) to the bottler. Admiring their shiny new shape as they are filled with water, they are then trucked to a small-town store. A group of thirsty kids buy and drink the water in Grady, then miss the recycling bin when they try to ‘make a basket’. A concerned citizen picks up the ‘trash’ and Grady is taken to the Waste Transfer Station. Voice-overs representing an old newspaper, a diaper and plastic bags bemoan their various fates but Grady is rescued and lands at the Bottle Depot where the bottles have a celebration, meeting their relations from all over. All the bottles are shipped to the shredder where we freeze the shredding process and cut to two post-consumer uses of plastic #1; carpet and Polarfleece.
Funding Bodies
Northern Cooperative Action for Recycling Enterprises
Coordinates recycling and waste management initiatives in northern Alberta, information for the residents and businesses of northern Alberta on the importance of recycling and waste reduction, develops partnerships that will bring together diverse interests for the purpose of generating sustainable and economic development opportunities of recycling and waste management.
Alberta EcoTrust Foundation
The Alberta Ecotrust Foundation has been established to help Albertans protect and conserve our environment. It provides financial support to practical or educational projects developed by community groups. The Alberta Ecotrust Foundation is a joint environmental protection and conservation initiative of corporations and environmental organizations.
Regional Environmental Action Committee
The REAC mandate includes; establish a regional recycling program, promote awareness of recycling through education, production of educational materials and advertising, support specific projects relating to enhancement, protection of the natural environment, renewable energy or waste reduction.
Community Initiatives Program
This program provides funds from the Alberta Lottery Fund to enhance and enrich project-based community initiatives throughout Alberta.
Municipal District of Big Lakes
Town of High Prairie
Lesser Slave Regional Waste Management Services Commission
A very special ‘Thank You’ to our in-kind contributors
Genesis Explorations
Sucker Creek First Nation
Nova Chemicals
Chevron Canada
Kinuso School
Coop Taxi
Auto Rescue Towing Service
Westbridge Bottlers Inc.
O’Canada Beverages Inc.
Boisvert’s Super A
Deuce Disposal
Faust General Store
Driftpile First Nation
Recycle Plus
Joussard Bottle Depot
Grimshaw Trucking
Alberta Beverage Container Recycling Corp.
Merlin Plastics
Mountain Equipment Co-op
Blue Quest Boat Rentals
Lesser Slave Lake Indian Regional Council
Alberta Environment: Sustainable Resource Development
Film and Video Arts Society
Lakeside Hotel (Faust)
Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory
“… I strongly endorse the “My Life”… video series. These videos will allow children to see the results of their recycling efforts. It will also illustrate the role children play in protecting and preserving the environment.”
Bill Smith, Mayor of Edmonton
“I wish you every success in completing the first in the series of these recycling videos. It is a creative and ambitious project towards the development of much-needed visual information and resource materials on recycling.”
C.D. Radke, Deputy Minister of the Environment
“Videos on recycling, particularly those applicable to Alberta, are quite limited. The production of a video series will be a welcome addition to school and library resources. Your concept to follow the life of a recyclable material is very creative and successfully depicts the importance of “closing the loop” and the wise management of our resources…I found the script to be accurate from a technical perspective.”
Licia Paddison, Waste Reduction Specialist (Action on Waste, Alberta Environment)