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Is plastic part of Norwegian coastal culture?

The plastification of Norwegian coastal communities brought about major changes. Yet those who lived through it do not necessarily remember it that way.

Plastic motorboats moored in a rocky cove in a Norwegian coastal landscape

Plastic boats moored at Kapelløya in Ny-Hellesund, outside Kristiansand. A familiar sight today, and a reminder of how much plastic has shaped and allowed access to the coast for a wider public.

(Stock photo: Colourbox)

Gaute Bugge Drangsholt Gaute Bugge Drangsholt Gaute Bugge Drangsholt COMMUNICATIONS ADVISER

Presented by: Presented by: Presented by: University of Agder

Published 29 March 2026 - 00:01

“I have often reflected on how it is possible that the generation who lived through such a major transformation of their surroundings do not seem to hold a wide range of stories about it,” says Victoria Østerberg.

Portrait photo of Victoria Østerberg — During her research, Victoria Østerberg developed a growing desire to contribute to a more sustainable society.

She has studied the plastification of life along the coast in her doctoral work at the University of Agder.

A resource and a problem

Today, plastic in the sea and along the Norwegian archipelago is widely recognised as a major environmental problem. New knowledge about microplastics has intensified this concern.

Schoolchildren and volunteer groups fill large bags with washed-up waste, almost all of it plastic. This has sparked widespread concern about the long-term consequences of plastic ending up in nature without properly breaking down.

“As an environmental historian, I start from the fact that we now view plastic as problematic, and that there are political ambitions to reduce the use of major sources of plastic consumption, such as packaging,” Østerberg explains.

How, then, did we end up here? What role has plastic played in reshaping Norwegian coastal culture? And when did plastic become something disposable? Østerberg has taken a closer look at these questions through three coastal communities in Southern Norway.

Bags of plastic rubbish piled on a beach with clean-up volunteers resting nearby. — Plastic waste now makes up a large share of what coastal clean-up groups collect.

The turning point

In these communities, various plastic materials were introduced during the 1950s. Yet it would take some years before the most significant changes took hold.

“I have become particularly interested in the latter half of the 1960s and the early 1970s. That was when many everyday practices changed. What had previously been considered normal – what most people did – shifted rapidly,” she says.

Through interviews and conversations with 22 witnesses, a review of newspaper archives, as well as photo and video material, she traces how plastic became an increasingly integrated part of daily life.

Boats, fishing gear, and outdoor furniture made of plastic are examples of how maintenance work became easier with the new technology.

This made coastal life more accessible to a new group of recreational users with limited prior knowledge or time to care for objects that easily rotted.

Stacked plastic fishing pots and traps with ropes on a grassy bank near rocks. — Plastic-based fishing gear such as pots and traps made maintenance easier, but also introduced new challenges.

Nevertheless, plastic itself did not introduce a throwaway mentality. Maintenance remained an important part of coastal culture, and broken plastic tools were repaired with considerable creativity.

Plastic also led to new knowledge about how different materials reacted to water and sunlight, and what they could be used for.

“The turning point came when plastic became so cheap that it was easier to throw it away and buy something new than to repair it and make it last,” Østerberg notes.

Missing from the narrative

Cheap plastic first made its mark through the increasing use of plastic packaging for everyday goods from the late 1960s onwards.

The visible consequences of littering were already clear to many at the time. Østerberg points to numerous newspaper articles from the early 1970s about plastic waste in rivers and along the coast.

Even near the communities she studied, reports highlighted how plastic made up a large share of the rubbish.

“That's why I'm surprised by how few stories the informants have about this,” she says.

Littering in the archipelago received considerable attention in the 1970s. Here from Ågerøya in 1972.

Østerberg has several suggestions as to why these stories are absent.

“I think it has a great deal to do with which stories are reinforced over time. In these coastal communities, the idea of the authentic sailing ship landscape is the story that is told, and that still shapes the surroundings," she says.

Plastic does not fit into that narrative.

A new perspective

Østerberg hopes her findings can contribute to today's discussions about plastic as an environmental challenge. They can serve as a supplement to natural science and technological approaches.

“It is useful to highlight the nuances and the breadth of what plastification has meant for society. This gives us room for a different kind of reflection,” she says.

Pile of weathered plastic floats and debris resting on rocks — Plastic products were not only bought; they also drifted ashore. Here is some of what one of the informants had kept.

“I believe it's necessary to talk about plastic as part of lived life. An interaction that has developed over time. Today, technology is so closely woven into our routines that it can be difficult to imagine alternatives. But we should ask how these practices hold value for us, and if and how they might be developed further. These are questions about more than merely replacing or removing individual chemicals,” she says.

Open about her own engagement

Østerberg wants to be involved in creating more sustainable ways of living. She has become active in the environmental organisation Future in our hands, though she has deliberately avoided working directly with the topic of plastic.

She has also reflected on the societal role of the environmental historian. She concluded that she may have been too focused on separating her role as a researcher from her role as a societal actor.

Østerberg explains that environmental historians often aim to engage with ongoing environmental challenges. They can do so by communicating how humans and the rest of nature have both changed and depended on each other over time.

“As a historian, the role is not to point to specific solutions, but to facilitate a better conversation about possible solutions,” she says.

Victoria Østerberg believes that when we understand that today's use of plastic is the result of specific historical circumstances, it also becomes easier to see that those practices can be changed.

Reference:

Østerberg, V. Plastifiseringen av livet langs kysten fra 1950 til 1990: En undersøkelse av Ågerøya, Landøy-Udøy og Loshavn-Eikvåg over tre halvgenerasjoner, Doctoral thesis at the University of Agder, 2025.