Plastic Fantastic? exhibition

In 2026, the Youth Forum worked on our Plastic Fantastic? special exhibition at Wakefield Museum. Plastic Fantastic? explores the history, impact and future of plastics. It delves into their place in our homes and lives, and their effect on our planet today.

The Youth Forum developed a pledge, created unique artworks, and helped our team to shape the exhibition.

The Youth Forum pledge was inspired by their desire to reuse plastic in a creative way:

"Most plastic gets one life, get creative and give it two!"

The Youth Forum pledge is designed to encourage people to take action. The Youth Forum looked at the waste hierarchy, ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle’, and chose to focus on reuse, because this is often the most difficult part to achieve. They wanted to use their imagination and creativity to give waste plastic a second life.

The Youth Forum followed their own pledge and used waste plastic to create unique, colourful artworks. You can see these artworks on display in the Plastic Fantastic? exhibition.  

The Youth Forum wanted to empower people to help with the plastics problem in a positive, hopeful way. They wanted to show that small actions can make a big difference. 

The Youth Forum also worked with our Curator and Exhibitions Officer to help shape the look and feel of the exhibition. They wanted the gallery to be colourful and joyful. They wanted to reflect real life experiences and attract people of all ages to the exhibition. They discussed what visitors should be able to do, see, touch and hear in the exhibition.

They felt that the exhibition should tell a balanced story about plastics. We should share the positive impact plastic has had on our lives, like making medical equipment and everyday items like glasses and contact lenses available. But they also said that we should talk about the problems with plastic and how they affect our environment, such as litter and damage to natural habitats.

"Most plastic gets one life, get creative and give it two"

To inspire people, the Youth Forum put the pledge into action themselves. They collected waste plastic and turned old toys, bottle tops and packaging into unique new artworks. These are now on display in the exhibition.

Will you join their pledge?