With its groundbreaking project Plastic Blood, Brazilian biotech company OKA, in collaboration with agency DM9, is making a powerful statement. By extracting microplastics from discarded blood bags and transforming them into everyday objects through 3D printing, the brand makes visible an invisible problem: plastic infiltrates everything, even inside us.
The concept behind Plastic Blood is as brilliant as it is chilling: to use microplastics extracted from 450 liters of discarded blood to print objects as mundane as cups, straws, and bottles. These objects, displayed in a gallery in São Paulo before embarking on a national tour culminating at COP30 in Belém, bring to life a horrifying reality: we ingest the equivalent of 30 grams of plastic every week, or up to 25 kilograms over the course of a lifetime.
This campaign shifts the usual imagery associated with plastic pollution—soiled beaches and turtles trapped in bags—towards a more intimate and unsettling realm: our own bodies. OKA and DM9's bold aim is clear: to move from inaction to indignation by shedding light on what we can’t see and don’t discuss enough.
It’s a creative stroke of genius that transforms an ecological crisis into a global health alert.
The Brazilian context makes this initiative even more impactful. The country is the fourth-largest producer of plastic waste in the world but recycles barely 1% of its production. As a result, mountains of plastic end up in the oceans, in the soil—and now, in our blood.
With Plastic Blood, OKA does more than just raise awareness; it also provides a tangible alternative. Based in the heart of the Amazon, the company develops 100% biodegradable and compostable packaging made from yuca starch, a locally sourced edible plant. This solution supports the regional economy, nourishes the soil once it degrades, and could significantly reduce the country’s plastic footprint.
For Erika Cezarine, CEO of OKA, the goal is to move the debate beyond a niche issue and make plastic pollution a real public health concern. And what could be more compelling than showing the plastic silently circulating through our arteries?
With Plastic Blood, OKA and DM9 introduce a new model of visual activism: no more tearful speeches about battered oceans. Here, the enemy is inside us, and turning a blind eye is no longer possible. Laura Esteves, creative director at DM9, sums it up perfectly: "We had to make the microscopic visible, emotional, and media-worthy."
This strategy is shocking, yes, but it’s incredibly effective. It invites everyone to reconsider their daily relationship with plastic, not to save turtles at the other end of the world—but to save ourselves.
By transforming an environmental issue into a tangible health crisis, Plastic Blood could mark a turning point in how brands and NGOs communicate about ecology: less abstract guilt, more raw realism. Because, by believing that pollution is "somewhere else," we have ended up welcoming it into our own bloodstreams.
