How are charities beating plastic pollution?

World Environment Day was founded in 1973 by the United Nations Environment Programme to “celebrate environmental action and the power of governments, businesses, and individuals to create a more sustainable world”. People from more than 150 countries participate in the event each year.

 

The 2023 theme of the day is #BeatPlasticPollution. Plastic production, use, and disposal pollute our land, water, and air, creating problems for wildlife, their habitats, and human populations.

 

The World Environment Day organisers say: “The good news is that we have science and solutions to tackle the problem – and a lot is already happening.”

 

Some of the activities taking place for World Environment Day 2023 include community-based clean-ups across Poland which will turn collected materials into an art exhibition, an eco-festival in Nairobi which will promote the theme with fun and interactive activities, and celebrations of the schools, teachers, and students who have completed the Tide Turners Plastic Challenge in New Delhi.

 

But the event organisers emphasise that the most powerful stakeholders still need to act upon the crisis, and that action should be taken “from every corner of the world”. In this article, we celebrate some of the many charities and non-profits tackling plastic pollution in 2023.

 

 

Kids Against Plastic

 

The youth-led charity Kids Against Plastic (KAP) was founded by sisters Amy and Ella Meek in 2016, aiming to inspire both children and adults to reduce their use of single-use plastics.

 

 has 272 members and encourages children to be more active against plastic pollution by engaging in a series of challenges. Their first challenge encourages members to log three litter-picks on the KAP app.

 

Their project Plastic Clever Schools provides free workbooks, lesson plans, and worksheets for primary and secondary schools in the UK to reduce plastic use in the classroom, as well as educating both staff and children, and building confidence and empowerment in the classroom.

 

Their campaign Kids Against Plastic Tat speaks out against the “pointless throwaway plastic toys that magazine publishers add to their comics and magazines”. Their website encourages supporters to join a nationwide letter-writing campaign, send in photographs that demonstrate the problem, sign their names on a petition, and share the charity’s existing resources.

 

The charity says: “No matter how big or how small, we all have our own part to play in making the planet a better place. The biggest barrier to overcoming the Climate Crisis or plastic pollution is to think that someone else will take the action needed.”

 

 

Surfers Against Sewage

 

Surfers Against Sewage connects grassroots community action and businesses with policy makers to encourage support for legislation and policy focused on reduction, reuse, and refill. The charity is demanding an end to plastic pollution on UK beaches by 2030.

 

The charity’s Million Mile Clean is an initiative rallying 100,000 volunteers to each clean 10 miles of blue, green, and city space each year, to pick up litter in their shared outdoor spaces. Volunteers can then submit data about their clean-up to help the charity identify the worst plastic polluting companies.

 

The Plastic Free Communities network run by Surfers Against Sewage tackles plastic pollution on a local scale, mobilising communities to make changes in their communities, their individual lives, and their local businesses. They also have a Plastic Free Schools programme which teaches young people tools and confidence to use their voice in the fight against single-use plastic.

 

The charity says that eliminating plastic pollution is “about dramatic, urgent action to rethink our economic models so they become sustainable, circular, and clean”.

 

 

The 5 Gyres Institute

 

The 5 Gyres Institute was founded to answer the key questions surrounding plastic pollution: “How much plastic is floating in the world’s oceans? Where is it accumulating? Is it causing harm to people and the planet? And most importantly, what can we do about it?”

 

Their work revolves around science, advocacy, and education. Based on independent research, their sector approach suggests that each sector has its own set of tailored strategies for tackling its role in plastic pollution. Their research has been published in over 25 peer-reviewed scientific journals, papers, and studies.

 

The organisation’s TrashBlitz app collects data from clean-up events to help inform policy in the U.S. and around the world. This is used in the annual project Plastic-free Parks which tracks plastic pollution trends in U.S. National Parks and on federal lands with the goal of understanding which types of waste are most common and work towards solutions to the pollution of these lands.

 

As part of the organisation’s educational role, they produce the Trash Academy video series to help individuals in different sectors tackle plastic pollution.

 

 

 

Marine Conservation Society

 

The Marine Conservation Society is a UK-based charity fighting for a cleaner, better-protected, healthier ocean.

Their Stop Ocean Threads campaign is calling for washing machine manufacturers to be legally required to fit microfibre filters in all new domestic and commercial machines, while they are also calling governments to ban disposable vapes. They have also been calling for a Deposit Return Scheme across the U.K. to reduce litter and drive towards a circular economy.

 

The charity gives free information and guidance for individuals to cut back on plastic, from reducing plastic waste in the workplace to sustainable bathroom swaps. The charity encourages supporters to share their plastic-free journey on Twitter with the hashtag #PlasticChallenge.

 

Their Plastic-Free Living Tip Swap group on Facebook is a community for individuals to share tips, ideas, and questions about reducing plastic use. The charity states: “We believe that individual actions to reduce single-use plastics should be supported by policy, to make avoiding single-use plastics easier.”