“Beat Plastic Pollution”, the theme for World Environment Day 2018, is a call to action for all of us to come together to combat one of the great environmental challenges of our time. The theme invites us all to consider how we can make changes in our everyday lives to reduce the heavy burden of plastic pollution on our natural places, our wildlife – and our own health.
While plastic has many valuable uses, we have become over reliant on single-use or disposable plastic – with severe environmental consequences. This World Environment Day we’ll be engaging partners from all corners of society and the world to join us in raising awareness and inspiring action to form the global movement needed to beat plastic pollution for good.

The problem of plastic pollution has been chosen as the key issue to focus on this year, and no wonder – did you know that 6 million tons of single-use plastics are thrown out every year. This is a enormous issue,  as plastic takes years to decompose — in fact it can take up to 200 years for a plastic straw to decompose.
 

#BeatPlasticPollution”, the theme for World Environment Day 2018, is a call to action for all of us to come together to combat one of the great environmental challenges of our time. #worldenvironmentdayClick To Tweet
 
World Environment Day is the UN’s most important day for encouraging worldwide awareness and action for the protection of our environment. Since it began in 1974, it has grown to become a global platform for public outreach that is widely celebrated in over 100 countries. Many countries have already taken important steps in this direction. The plastic bag bans in place in more than nearly 100 countries prove just how powerful direct government action on plastics can be.
 

“Beat Plastic Pollution

If you can’t reuse it, refuse it #BeatPlasticPollution

Reduce the Use”

 

Global Plastic Pollution by the Numbers:

Did you know:
• Up to 5 trillion plastic bags used each year
• 13 million tonnes of plastic leak into the ocean each
year
• 17 million barrels of oil used on plastic production
each year
• 1 million plastic bottles bought every minute
• 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

To beat plastic pollution, we need to entirely rethink our approach to designing, producing and using plastic products.
This World Environment Day, the goal is to inspire the kind of solutions that lead to sustainable behaviour change upstream.
The goal is to build on the global momentum to beat plastic pollution and use World Environment Day as a turning point to inspire innovators, activists and leaders worldwide to do more than just clean up existing plastics, but also focus our action upstream. Our goal is to foster the dialogue that leads to new models for plastic production and consumption.
 

#BeatPlasticPollution” invites us all to consider how we can make changes in our everyday lives to reduce the heavy burden of #plastic pollution on our natural places, our wildlife – and our own health.Click To Tweet
 

Individuals, the private sector and policymakers all have critical roles to play.

Plastic pollution is a defining environmental challenge for our time. In the next 10-15 years global plastic production is projected to nearly double. Avoiding the worst of these outcomes demands a complete rethinking of the way we produce, use and manage plastic.
Individuals are increasingly exercising their power as consumers. People are turning down plastic straws and cutlery, cleaning beaches and coastlines, and reconsidering their purchase habits in supermarket aisles. If this happens enough, retailers will quickly get the message to ask their suppliers to do better.
While these steps are a cause for celebration, the reality is that individual action alone cannot solve the problem. Even if every one of us does what we can to reduce our plastic footprint – and of course we must – we must also address the problem at its source. Consumers must not only be actors but drivers for the behaviour change that must also happen upstream.
Ultimately, our plastic problem is one of design. Our manufacturing, distribution, consumption and trade systems for plastic – indeed our global economy – need to change. The linear model of planned obsolescence, in which items are designed to be thrown away immediately after use, sometimes after just seconds, must end.

At the heart of this is extended producer responsibility, where manufacturers must be held to account for the entire life-cycle of their consumer products. At the same time, those companies
actively embracing their social responsibility should be rewarded for moving to a more circular model of design and production, further incentivizing other companies to do the same.
Changes to consumer and business practice must be supported and in some cases driven by policy. Policymakers and governments worldwide must safeguard precious environmental resources and indeed public health by encouraging sustainable production and consumption through legislation. To stem the rising tide of single-use plastics, we need government leadership and in some cases strong intervention.
 

This World Environment Day, UN #Environment is calling on citizens, companies and civil society groups to get out and organize cleanups in their communities. #BeatPlasticPollutionClick To Tweet
 

World Environment Day seeks to influence change in four key areas:

Reducing & Refusing Single-Use Plastics

50% of the of consumer plastics are designed to be used only once, providing a momentary convenience before being discarded. Eliminating single-use plastics, both
from design chains to our consumer habits is a critical first step to beat plastic pollution.

Improving Waste Management 

Nearly one third of the plastics we use escape our collection systems. Once in the environment, plastics don’t go away, they simply get smaller and smaller, last a
century or more and increasingly find their way into our food chain. Waste management and recycling schemes are essential to a new plastics economy.

Phasing Out Microplastics

Recent studies show that over 90% of bottled water and even 83% of tap water contain microplastic particles. No one is sure what that means for human health, but trace amounts are turning up in our blood, stomachs, and lungs with increasing regularity. Humans add to the problem with micro-beads from beauty products and other non-recoverable materials.

Promoting Research into Alternatives

Alternative solutions to oil-based plastics are limited and difficult to scale. This doesn’t need to be the case. Further research is needed to make sustainable plastic alternatives both economically viable and widely available.
This World Environment Day is a culmination of years of effort by Member States aimed at focusing the world’s attention and galvanizing action around plastic pollution. UN Environment and its Member States have been developing innovative science and forging new consensus on the complex relationships between plastics, society and the environment for decades.
 

“Beat Plastic Pollution

If you can’t reuse it, refuse it #BeatPlasticPollution

Reduce the Use”

 

Key Actions We Can Take to Reduce Plastic Use

*Buy loose fruit and vegetables rather than pre-packaged
*Buy washing powder in a cardboard box
*Buy bars of soap rather than liquid soap
*Order drinks that come in glass bottles
*Stop using single-use, plastic-fibre wipes
*Stop using plastic bottles and plastic cups
*Use a reusable water bottle and cup
*Take reusable bags to the shops
*Cut down on takeaways in plastic boxes
*Use refillable cleaning and toiletry products
*Stop using plastic straws
*Buy in bulk rather than buying individually wrapped items
*Reuse jars and containers for storing food and leftovers
*Use glass or metal containers for storing and protecting food, rather than plastic food bags, plastic containers and cling film
*Use loose-leaf tea rather than teabags, as these may contain plastic
*Use reusable chopsticks and cutlery
*Avoid facial and body scrubs containing plastic microbeads
and many more….

Image credit: World Environment Day
 

By working together, it’s possible to make this year the world’s biggest-ever worldwide cleanup and a giant step toward beating #plastic pollution in our everyday lives. #BeatPlasticPollutionClick To Tweet
 

 
This World Environment Day, UN Environment is calling on citizens, companies and civil society groups to get out and organize cleanups in their communities and commit to reducing plastic usage. By working together, it’s possible to make 2018 the world’s biggest-ever worldwide cleanup and a giant step toward beating plastic pollution in our everyday lives. #BeatPlasticPollution.
 

“Beat Plastic Pollution

If you can’t reuse it, refuse it #BeatPlasticPollution

Reduce the Use”

 

Plastic Pollution Resources: 

2018 Ministerial Declaration of the United Nations Environment Assembly at its Third Session:
Towards a Pollution-free Planet
https://papersmart.unon.org/resolution/uploads/k1800398.english.pdf
2018 UNEA Resolution 3/7: Marine litter and microplastics
https://papersmart.unon.org/resolution/uploads/k1800210.english.pdf
2017 Pollution Report of the Executive Director
https://papersmart.unon.org/resolution/uploads/k1708347e.pdf
2017 General Assembly Resolution 71/312: Our ocean, our future: call for action
http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/71/312
2017 Assessment Combating Marine Plastic Litter and Microplastics: An Assessment of the Effectiveness of
Relevant International, Regional and Sub-Regional Governance Strategies and Approaches
https://papersmart.unon.org/resolution/uploads/unea3_mpl_assessment-2017oct05_unedited_adjusted.pdf
2016 UNEA Resolution 2/11: Marine plastic litter and microplastics
https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/K16/072/28/pdf/K1607228.pdf?OpenElement
2016 Report: Marine Plastic Debris & Microplastics: Global Lessons and Research to Inspire Action and Guide PolicyChange
https://wedocs.unep.org/rest/bitstreams/11700/retrieve
The State of Plastics Toolkit
http://www.worldenvironmentday.global/sites/default/files/toolkit_with_nature/WED%202018_KeyReport_v1_web.pdf
Business and Organization Toolkit
http://www.worldenvironmentday.global/sites/default/files/toolkit_organizations/WED2018_Org_Business_Kit_06042018.pdf
 
What are you doing to reduce your use of plastics?
Share your suggestions, thoughts and comments with us.