Wealth of information from waste

Artists then cleaned the caps, sorted them out by color and stuck them on a white board. The use of color was to symbolize the struggling creatures with microplastics in them, a problem few people recognize, says Liu.

Researchers define microplastics as plastic pieces whose diameters are smaller than 5 millimeters. The work aims to teach the public about the problem of microplastics, raise awareness of plastic waste pollution and call for further action, Liu says, adding that the handmade artwork was used in public service posters in subways and airports in Beijing, Shenzhen, Shanghai and Xi'an.

At the exhibition, children put plastic bottles into a machine, from which 3D-printing animal figures would drop out. The figures show the bodies of lobsters, sea lions, turtles and fish trapped in plastic items such as bags, gloves and bottles.

There are also photography works showing a bird's-eye view of garbage along the seaside and videos that compare the rapid production of plastics with the slow degradation of it.

According to studies published in the journal Science and PLOS ONE, about 8 million metric tons of plastic garbage is poured into the ocean every year. And the sea now has a total of 5.25 trillion pieces of microplastic. Plastics have already been found in the bodies of 240 species.

Over 80 percent of plastics waste is from the land, and some of it will finally return to our dining tables in different forms using the food chain, says Yeung Chung-wing from the ocean plastic team of WWF.

Yeung says one of the goals of the art exhibition is to educate more young Chinese about the problem of plastics, a hot topic globally.

"We call for everyone to rethink their wasteful lifestyle full of single-use plastics, and make changes," he says. "Companies and governments are all key players in the drive to redesign, reduce, reuse and recycle in the value chain order to reduce waste at source and close the loop."

He adds that related measures have been taken in China in recent years as the government attached much importance to the issue by tightening regulations on waste import, introducing pilot plans for compulsory waste sorting and creating zero-waste cities, acting against illegal discharge of plastic waste and raising public awareness of the issue.

Artists Zhou Yuxuan and Liu Yifan used nylon cable ties, LED lights, ultrasonic sensors and beverage bottles to create an installation called Symbiotic, where plastics, in the shape of cells, "grow" in a corner formed by two boards and the floor. There, the lights open and close from time to time to imitate "breathing". And when people walk near it, the installation responds by forming light patterns as if communicating with the visitors.