International Plastic Bag Free Day - July 3rd, 2022
1 million plastic bags are used around the world every minute. On average they are used for 25 minutes yet they take between 100 – 500 years to break down in our environments. The global movement to reduce plastic and clean up our oceans is at the forefront of Breteau Foundation’s work as we prepare for our upcoming 2023 Plastic’s schools project in partnership with On Kids Entertainment children’s TV animation, Miraculous Ladybug. We are working towards educating millions more children in 2023 with our Plastics animation episode with Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug an Cat Noir and our accompanying educational workshops for teachers.
This coming International Plastic Bag Free Day, July 3rd, we too would like to celebrate some of the other amazing projects being led by young people!
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Fewer understand the necessity of reducing plastic and pollution more than the younger generation who will be directly faced with the task of cleaning up our planet. Crucially, children are able to ask the most important questions that are often overlooked in problem solving: why not? Why not just use less plastic? Why not clean up the ocean? Rather than looking for workarounds to our current situation, they recognise the simple root causes of overconsumption and underwhelming lack of care for the planet.
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Bye Bye Plastic Bags
Founded by sisters Melati and Isabel Wijsen in Bali when they were 12 and 10, BBPB envisions a world free of plastic bags and where the younger generation are empowered to take action. They believe that we cannot solve a problem that people are not aware of. BBPB raises awareness and educates about the harmful impact of plastic on our environment, animals and health while also sharing how to be part of the solution. Having spoken to over 1,000,000 youth and created the 3rd educational booklet aimed for elementary schools in Indonesia, education has a huge place in the heart of BBPB.
The Ocean Cleanup
At 16 years of age, Boyan Slat saw more plastic bags than fish when scuba diving in Greece. He thought: “Why can’t we just clean this up?” In 2012, Boyan Slat held a TedX talk about how to rid the world’s oceans of plastic using technology. The video went viral, and the momentum that followed allowed him to drop out of school and found The Ocean Cleanup. They currently deploy Ocean Systems in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which cleans up 50% of the plastic before they become microplastics, and Interceptors, which catch plastic waste in rivers before they are able to enter the oceans. Their goal is to reach a 90% reduction of floating ocean plastic by 2040.
Kids Against Plastic
Inspired by the UN Sustainable Development Goals, 12 and 10 year old Amy and Ella wanted to do their bit. They picked 3 goals – Life Below Water, Climate Action and Responsible Consumption – and began their research. It quickly became clear that plastic pollution was a common thread, and so began their on-the-ground activism. In 2016, Kids Against Plastic was born. KAP aims to increase awareness around single-use plastic, as well as empowering young people to take action for what they believe in. The charity works with businesses, individuals, schools and cafes to minimize the use of the Big 4 – drinking straws, takeaway cups, plastic water bottles & plastic shopping bags – and swap in reusable items, while encouraging crowd/social science through their litter logging app.
