World
Environment Day
World Environment Day is celebrated on the
5th of June each year and is one of the UN’s most important environmental
days. It encourages worldwide awareness and action for the protection of our
environment. It is the ‘People’s Day’ for doing something positive for the
environment. World
Environment Day has gained tremendous momentum over the years. Since its
inception in 1974, it has grown to become a global platform for public outreach
that is widely celebrated in over 100 countries.
Theme for 2018
Each WED is organised around a theme that focuses attention on a particularly pressing environmental concern. This year's theme "Beat Plastic Pollution" was chosen by the host country, India.
Plastic pollution is a defining
environmental challenge. “Beat Plastic Pollution”, the theme for World
Environment Day 2018, also ties in with World Oceans Day’s 2018 theme of
“Prevent Plastic Pollution” that will take place on the 8th of June. The theme
was chosen by India, the host country.
It also is about considering how all of
us can make changes in our everyday lives in order to reduce the burden of
plastic pollution on not only our natural places and wildlife, but also our
health. All partners raise awareness and inspire action to form the global
movement needed to wholeheartedly combat plastic pollution. It promises to be
the largest and most consequential World Environment Day ever. They are going to
build on the global momentum to beat plastic pollution and use as a turning
point to people worldwide to do more than just clean up existing plastics, but
also focus their action upstream.
This year’s
World Environment Day provides an opportunity for each of us to embrace the
many ways that we can help to combat plastic pollution around the world. And
you don’t have to wait until 5 June to act. Nor do you have to take only take
action on the 5th June; preventing pollution can be part of your
green, everyday lifestyle.
Key
actions and message
An important message the day tries to
convey is in order to beat plastic pollution, we need to entirely rethink our
approach to designing, producing and using plastic products. Their goal is to
inspire solutions that will ultimately lead to sustainable behaviour change
upstream. They
are also calling on governments to enact robust legislation to curb the
production and use of unnecessary single-use plastics. Its aim is to harness
individual actions and transform them into a collective power that has a legacy
of real and lasting impact on the planet. They are working with education
partners to help them reconsider their plastic habits, generate solutions and
raise awareness. They want to inspire children on how they can take action to
protect the environment. Children can then spread this message to their parents
and, importantly, the wider community.
Plastic’s
impact on the environment and on humans
Although
plastic has many uses, people have become too reliant on single-use or
disposable plastic – with severe environmental consequences.
It is shocking to realize that:
·
Every
year, 13 million tonnes of plastic enter our oceans, threatening marine and
human life and destroying our natural ecosystems. It smothers coral reefs and
threatens vulnerable marine wildlife.
·
The
plastic ending up in the oceans can circle the earth four times in a single
year, and it can persist for up to 1,000 years before it fully disintegrates.
·
Nearly
one third of the plastic packaging we use escapes collection systems, which
means that it ends up clogging our city streets and polluting our natural
environment.
·
What
is even more worrisome is the fact that, around the world, 1 million plastic
drinking bottles are purchased EVERY MINUTE.
·
Every
year we use up to 5 trillion disposable plastic bags. In total, 50 per cent of
the plastic we use is single use.
·
Over
90% of bottled water and even 83% of tap water contain microplastic particles.
Micro-beads
from beauty products and other non-recoverable materials also negatively impact
our environment.
·
Plastic
also makes its way into our water supply – and thus into our bodies.
·
Plastics
contain a number of chemicals, many of which are toxic or disrupt hormones.
·
Plastics
can also serve as a magnet for other pollutants, including dioxins, metals and
pesticides.
Other
Global Plastic Pollution by Numbers
·
Up
to 5 trillion plastic bags used each year
·
17
million barrels of oil used on plastic production each year
·
100,000
marine animals killed by plastics each year
·
100
years for plastic to degrade in the environment
·
90%
of bottled water found to contain plastic particles
·
83%
of tap water found to contain plastic particles
·
50%
of consumer plastics are single use
·
10%
of all human-generated waste is plastic
What
needs to be done?
It requires a complete rethinking of the
way plastic is produced, used, and managed. Simply put: Our manufacturing,
distribution, consumption, and trade systems for plastic NEED to change. Items
that are merely thrown away immediately after a single use must stop. Individual
action alone cannot solve the problem of reducing our plastic footprint. It is
important that the problem is addressed at its source. Manufacturers must be
held to account for the entire life-cycle of their consumer products. Policymakers
and governments must safeguard precious environmental resources and public
health by encouraging sustainable production and consumption through
legislation. Focusing on the next generation is central to addressing the
plastic pollution issue.
What has been done
to curb plastic use?
Individuals, companies, and communities
have increasingly exercised their power as consumers. This has been evident especially
in supermarkets where people have, instead of using single-use plastic grocery
bags, have used recyclable material or paper bags. Many have also reconsidered
their purchase habits in supermarket aisles. People have also continuously
turned down plastic straws and cutlery and several restaurants have joined in a
campaign to not give any plastic straws out anymore. Beach clean-ups have also
taken enthusiastically place. While clean-ups may only address the plastic
issue at the end of its life cycle, they are a wonderful way to see the extent
of plastic waste first-hand and rethink their behaviour.
Is there something
else I can do, though?
Consumers
must not only be actors but drivers for the behaviour change that must also
happen upstream.
The main idea that this day wants to bring
across is:
If you can’t
reuse it, refuse it.
Furthermore, there are so many things that
we can do:
·
Ask your restaurants to stop using
plastic straws
·
Bringing your own coffee mug to work
·
Pressure
your local authorities to improve how they manage your city’s waste.
·
Bring
your own shopping bags to the supermarket
·
Pressure
food suppliers to use non-plastic packaging
·
Refuse
plastic cutlery
·
Pick
up any plastic you see the next time you go for a walk on the beach
On social media
platforms you can share your ideas on social media using the hashtags
#BeatPlasticPollution #WorldEnvironmentDay #WED2018 and inspire other people to
also get involve.
Download the
Litterati app to track the plastic waste that gets collected. Click on www.litterati.org
and register what you collect so that it is included in the global total.
Encourage
another institution to make a plastic-reduction pledge: Make a commitment to
reduce your school, university, or organisation’s use of disposable plastic.
#BeatPlasticPollution game of tag
Join the global
#BeatPlasticPollution game of tag: Invite students and staff to take a selfie
with their canvas shopping bag, metal straw or any other reusable product and
tag five friends, telling them to do the same. The person tagged should post a
photo with their reusable item within 24 hours. You can also challenge other
institutions to join you in cleaning the planet: Announce that your school,
university, or organisation is cleaning up plastic litter in a park or public
space for World Environment Day. Challenge other to do the same.
You can also
host your own event and make it as fun, inspiring and interesting as you would
like.
You, as citizens,
must act as both consumers and informed citizens, demanding sustainable
products and embracing sensible consumption habits in your own lives. To
Beat Plastic Pollution, everyone needs step up and think about how they can not
only reduce, reuse and recycle, but seek to inspire behavioural changes.
Only when we all
come together, can we successfully combat one of the great environmental
challenges of our time.
Remember: IF YOU CAN'T REUSE IT - REFUSE IT!
