Communicating sustainable uses of plastics in a museum setting: the case of the Museum of Design in Plastics

Museums are traditionally places that communicate often complicated ideas and concepts to a wide-ranging audience. They have been seen as places where ‘experts’ (those with the knowledge), for example curators, have imparted wisdom to the public (those without the knowledge). More recently, museums have become places to mediate and to generate conversations, with the acknowledgement that the visiting public are not ‘without knowledge’ but bring important experience to the meaning making process. This chapter covers the role mediation in a museum setting to explore the sustainable use of plastics, a contested material family. It uses the Museum of Design in Plastics as a case study to explore how a deep focus on a single material family can help visitors to understand its value.