Leslie Finlay | Trash Hero World

World’s Top Polluters Revealed by Break Free from Plastic’s 2019 Brand Audit

by Leslie Finlay on 24/10/2019 No comments

This week, Break Free From Plastic (BFFP) released their second global brand audit, Branded Vol. II: Identifying the World’s Top Corporate Plastic Polluters.

On 2019’s World Clean Up Day held September 21, more than 72 thousand volunteers from 51 countries around the world collected 476,423 pieces of plastic from coastlines, riversides, and within their communities – 43% of which were marked with a clear consumer brand.

In 2019, BFFP had over seven times as many volunteers contribute to this brand audit as it did in 2018, recording twice the amount of single-use plastic.

The Top 3 Global Polluters are the same as those from 2018: Coca Cola, Nestlé, and Pepsico.

The other seven companies the brand audit identified as top plastic polluters include: Mondelez International, Unilever, Mars, Procter & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive, Philips Morris International, and Perfetti van Melle.

World Cleanup Day volunteers recorded the branded waste collected as they cleaned their communities, submitting a combined 484 audits to Break Free From Plastic. The Trash Heroes of Indonesia were even awarded a silver medal in recognition of their 7,520 volunteers!

The volunteers in Ambon, Indonesia were hit with a 6.5-magnitude earthquake and evacuated from their homes – and yet still retrieved their brand audits to submit their data to BFFP, a true, inspiring commitment to these heroes fighting to improve their communities and move toward a waste-free future.

Such brand audits are a powerful tool for holding consumer goods companies accountable for their role in the global plastic waste problem, revealing just how widespread and damaging their throwaway plastic business model has become.

“There is a great need to better understand the sources and priority products that contribute to plastic pollution closer to the source, so we can better intervene on solutions,” the BFFP report says.

For the second year in a row, Coca Cola came is as the #1 global polluter. In just one day, an incredible 11,732 branded Coca Cola plastics were collected and recorded – more than the next three top global polluters combined. In the past, Coca Cola has attempted to address its role in the plastic pollution crisis by promoting plastic packaging using plastic collected from the ocean, or using plastic bottles made from plants, or bioplastics. But these “solutions” merely reinforce the myth that single-use plastic can be sustainable.

According to the report, the #2 polluter, Nestlé, has announced its commitment to making all of its packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025 – but with no clear plan for reducing the total amount of single-use plastics it produces. The company sells over a billion products a day in single-use plastic. In spite of these claims, on the shores of Lake Geneva, home to Nestlé’s global headquarters, Greenpeace Switzerland volunteers collected 1,124 plastic items in just two hours on World Cleanup Day.

Unilever, the #5 plastic polluter, has promised to reduce its role as a plastic polluter by using chemical recycling, according to BFFP’s report. This technology, however, is unproven, extremely energy intensive, and its adoption on a large scale is completely unfeasible.

These pivots and marketed alternatives made by global brands are ignoring the primary issue – we need to reduce our dependence on plastic altogether, and that starts at the source with these primary producers.

Overall, the most common types of plastics collected throughout the audit included:

PET plastics – clear or tinted plastic often used in drink bottles, cups, and pouches
HDEP plastics – white or coloured plastic
PVC plastics – hard or rubbery plastic used in building materials, toys, and shower curtains

We can make more sustainable choices as individuals, but the consumer is not fully responsible.

For years, the corporate narrative has been that plastic pollution is a problem caused by individual consumers. False solutions like recycling, incineration, and bioplastics are rampantly promoted, but fail to address the real problem – constant, large scale production.

The report addresses that in many cases, across many communities, it’s simply impossible to avoid plastic in our everyday lives. The responsibility simply cannot fall entirely on individual consumer choices. We have a powerful global plastics industry that plans to quadruple plastic production by 2050, meaning the environmental, social justice, and health threats associated with such high levels of plastic waste will increase dramatically.

“Plastic is not a litter problem, it is a pollution problem, and it starts as soon as the plastic is made,” the BFFP report states. “Faced with no choice but plastic packaging, people are forced to be complicit in the plastic pollution crisis.”

In the report, Break Free from Plastic also discussed zero-waste and policy solutions designed to address this systemic plastic production problem.

Highlights include examples of cities and organisations using surveys, audits, and citizen science methods to understand their local waste problem and demand that suppliers of plastic products take accountability for their role in unsustainable waste – as well as governments that set the policies to regulate these companies

Inspiring examples of community-led change from the audit include:

Tacloban City, a highly urbanised area in central Philippines, is well on its way to becoming a Zero Waste model city. In partnership with the Filipino non-profit organisation the Mother Earth Foundation, the city launched intensive house-to-house information, education, and communication campaigns about waste management and separation.
The 5 Gyres Institute in North America conducted scientific expeditions to study the global estimate of microplastics in the world’s oceans. The findings contributed to the eventual banning of plastic microbeads in America through the Microbeads Free Waters Act.
In Guatemala, a university student worked with local organisations to pressure the local government to rethink its policies toward single use plastic. Later that year, the Mayor placed a ban on the sale and use of straws, plastic bags, and polystyrene products. The municipality then ran campaigns to promote the use of traditional packaging like maxan leaves, sugarcane baskets, and reusable dishware and utensils, providing items throughout the community and its businesses.

Examples like these, and many others included in the full report, highlight how no matter where in the world you live, community power – and creating a culture of accountability – can lead to powerful, lasting change toward a plastic waste-free future.

Check out the full report and brand audit from Break Free From Plastic to learn more.

From Beach Cleans to Bracelets: Thai Trash Hero’s Jewelry at Laos Fashion Week

by Leslie Finlay on 11/10/2019 No comments

Fah Sattayaphan has been a jewelry designer for 13 years in Koh Samed, Thailand. The tiny paradise among the eastern seaboard islands of Thailand has long inspired her beachy collections designed of beads, string, and macramé. But in recent years Koh Samed has experienced the same emergent problem found in coastal communities around the globe: marine pollution.

Since joining her local Trash Hero community, Fah became motivated by the idea of upcycling – baskets, rope, fishing gear and more collected from the island’s weekly beach cleans can be restored and reused. This concept soon made its way into her jewelry designs.

In collaboration with Hilke Scholz, a German fashion designer committed to sustainable, low-waste fashion, Fah designed a collection that was displayed at Laos Fashion Week in September. The jewelry and accessories presented were made entirely from objects collected from the sea and coastline during beach cleans in Koh Samed, giving items discarded as waste new value and purpose.

“Trash will not be trash if we value it,” Fah said of her collection. “It can be beautiful and usable.”

The pieces Fah presented included bracelets, belts, and earrings. Her intricate macramé technique is contrasted by long hanging unfinished ends that show the origin of the material. Together, the fashion and jewelry collection served as a reminder to appreciate the value of material and craft and to restore the inviolability of nature.

Since working on this collaborative collection, Fah said she has completely stopped buying any new material for her jewelry design – she intends to continue using only trash found during cleanups. This way, she hopes to promote sustainability through her business and urge people to reconsider their approach to their own waste.

Fah’s designs will be sold at Ministry Of Silk in Vientiane, and profits will be donated to an organisation that supports the flood victims of southern Laos, the COPE center that supports bomb victims and prevents future accidents, and the Lao Young Designer Award that gives scholarships to young Lao design talents.

Check out more of Fah’s work on Koh Samed here.

Are Bioplastics a Safe Alternative? New Study Says No.

by Leslie Finlay on 05/10/2019 1 comment

Plastic is everywhere in modern life. Its purpose is practical – it’s durable, lightweight, and versatile across its millions of uses. But until recently, little has been studied about the impact of our constant, everyday exposure to the chemicals that make up plastic items, and experts are worried about potential long-term health effects that can result from our societal addiction to plastic.

Last month, a landmark study was published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology that detailed the harmful chemical content found across a wide range of everyday plastic items. Surprisingly, the study also found that bioplastics, marketed as a sustainable, yet familiar alternative, may pose just as much – if not more – of a health risk as its petroleum-based counterpart.

The Human Health Risk of Plastic

The aim of this study was to inform consumers about the safest types of plastic to use. But according to the research team, the results were more complicated than expected. Instead of being able to soundly point consumers in the safest direction, they found that issues of toxicity were widespread across nearly every type and brand of plastic.

The researchers studied commonly used plastic items from water bottles to food wrappers and yogurt cups, and found evidence that most of these popular consumer products do contain chemicals that can be harmful to human health. Some of these chemicals, like phthalates and BPA, have never been studied extensively in spite of their widespread use, but are thought to be what are known as endocrine disruptors, linked with a long list of reproductive, developmental, and other health issues.

What are Bioplastics and are they Safe?

Given the growing concern for environmental sustainability together with the longstanding uncertainty in the safety of plastic, bioplastics have emerged as a potential alternative. This material refers to any plastic made from plants instead of petroleum. It’s cheap to produce and argued as more sustainable alternative. Bioplastics reportedly biodegrade more easily, and produce up to 70 percent less greenhouse gases as they break down. Some bioplastic products claim to break down in a matter of weeks, and since they’re made from biological material, the argument is that as they decay they blend harmlessly into the environment.

But that isn’t the whole story. The study found that all bioplastics made of polylactic acid (PLA) – the most common type by far – showed toxicity levels similar to that of PVC, which is known to be the most highly toxic type of plastic available. The authors of the study said that the bioplastic solution, often touted as a “magic bullet” alternative by manufacturers, should be approached with caution to avoid adopting it as a “regrettable substitution.”

Are Bioplastics Really More Sustainable?

Even without these potential health risks linked to chemicals in bioplastics, the product doesn’t live up to its sustainable hype. While marketed as “green,” “eco-friendly,” and “biodegradable,” bioplastics may cause just as much – if not more – environmental damage than its standard plastic counterpart.

First, not all bioplastics readily break down as claimed. It’s been well documented that standard plastic will never fully degrade, but over time breaks down into microscopic plastic particles that can be damaging to the environment, animals and marine life, and human health. The idea is that bioplastics, since they are made from biological material, will harmlessly biodegrade. But this solution is misleading. Bioplastics can still take many decades to decompose, and a report by the 5 Gyres Institute found that most kinds of bioplastics won’t just do so in the natural environment, but require industrial-level composting. The consistent infrastructure for this just doesn’t exist – and where it does, the study finds that facilities simply won’t accept bioplastics as they delay processes.

The promise of recylcling falls short of reality as well. Technology does exist to recycle some forms of bioplastics, but almost no facilities currently exist. Bioplastics must be processed separately from standard plastic, resulting in expensive processes that aren’t feasible for most cities, and increased levels of local industrial emissions. As a result, bioplastics more often end up in landfills where they may release methane gas – a greenhouse gas 23 times more powerful than carbon dioxide.

Even if these facilities become widely available, there is the human element to recycling that has been repeatedly documented as inefficient. Experts report that less than one-fifth of recyclable material ever makes it to the right processing facility.

Secondly, bioplastics are made from plants like corn. The concept of “growing our plastic” takes land away from food production, results in greenhouse gas emissions from intensive agriculture, and can lead to water pollution from fertilizer runoff. Experts say that these indirect impacts can be even more harmful than if we just kept producing plastic from petroleum.

Reduction is the Answer

The idea of all-natural, compostable plastic sounds exciting, and the interest in products like bioplastic is an encouraging reminder that as a society we do want to make more sustainable choices in our everyday lives. But given the uncertainty of health risks and environmental consequences, reducing our reliance on plastic altogether shows the greatest promise for a waste-free future.

Engineering an alternative may one day succeed, but reduction is power we all have control of today. Small changes in our everyday lives can help eliminate its production altogether. Consider habits like:

Eat fresh food – this reduces the likelihood your food has come into contact with potentially toxic chemicals, and limits the need for plastic packaging.
Opt for stainless steel, glass, or ceramic food containers.
Swap out single-use plastic items like water bottles, plastic bags, and toiletry items for sustainable alternatives.
Support local businesses that have a smaller supply chain footprint.
When possible, repair instead of re-buy.
Be an active advocate for change by joining local cleanups.

Massive 3-Day Cleanup Restores Koh Chang After Flooding

by Leslie Finlay on 24/09/2019 1 comment

Extremely heavy rainfall hit the small island of Koh Chang, Thailand over September 15-16 causing major flash flooding throughout the island. The flooding was so strong that dozens of homes were damaged, and more than 100 motorbikes and three vehicles were washed away, as reported by the local government. According to residents, it was the most dramatic weather seen in decades – as was the aftermath of destruction and debris. Fortunately, no one was hurt, and locals happily report that the island has already bounced back to normal – in no small part due to the huge, collaborative effort launched community-wide following the storm.

Clean-up efforts began across the island immediately, and Koh Chang’s Trash Hero representatives worked closely with the local government and officers from the National Park to coordinate an unprecedented three-day cleanup event – coinciding with September 21st’s international World Cleanup Day.

Debris and rubbish swept up in the floods emerged all across Koh Chang as the floodwaters receded. Runoff was particularly severe in areas like the beautiful Klong Phrao Beach, where water levels were reported to be up to 50cm deep during the storm. Without urgent removal, this waste would simply be carried by tides out to sea, where it enters the ecosystem and is unlikely to ever be recovered. Left unattended, this debris also carries health risks for humans, animals, and marine life alike.

More than 1,000 volunteers assembled over the three-day cleanup, including participants traveling from all across Thailand who had seen reports about the flooding. A number of electricians, kitchen staff, and cleanup volunteers headed to Koh Chang to join the local community, eager to help restore the beautiful island quickly, brought together through a community spirit of collective action!

Thirty-five Koh Chang hotels donated rooms to accommodate these non-local volunteers, while dozens of restaurants and local businesses provided ongoing food, fresh water, and supplies. Local authorities continued to offer constant support to the effort, with both the Koh Chang and Trat Province mayors on-site for the cleanups, leading by actionable example.

Over the next three days, rainy drizzle abated opening up to sunny blue skies, revealing the immense progress made. In total, more than 13 tonnes – or 28,600 pounds – of rubbish was collected for proper disposal by this enormous collaborative effort.

Trash Heroes Gearing Up for Sept. 21st’s World Cleanup Day!

by Leslie Finlay on 19/09/2019 No comments

All across the world Trash Heroes are getting ready to join the massive international cleanup effort this Saturday, September 21.

World Cleanup Day began in 2008 when 50,000 people united in Estonia to clean the country in 5 hours. Today, this effort has expanded, bringing together millions of people across 157 countries to address our shared problem of global waste by harnessing the impressive power of collective action.

This vision is led by Let’s Do It World, an organisation that believes in a spirit of unity to address the issues that come with unsustainable waste. We couldn’t agree more with this tenet at Trash Hero. Through collaboration and positivity, we can look beyond differences and come together under what unites us all – our planet, and the fight for its bright future.

These cleanups involve a rigorous data collection element, as do many Trash Hero cleanups, to provide ongoing analysis into the greatest challenges faced in reducing marine and coastal litter.

By recording what we collect, we can see over time the items that are most frequently wasted – motivating us to make everyday swaps to reusable, sustainable items like canvas bags and stainless steel water bottles and straws.

It’s been reported that up to 80% of environmental impact is generated by everyday household consumption, meaning its reduction – and the movement toward a waste-free future – is very much in our control!

To get involved, check for events organised by your local Trash Hero chapter, World Cleanup Day teams, or other organisations in your area. Or grab some friends and go! There’s no limit on how to make a positive change to your local area.

But don’t lose motivation after September 21st! Global waste is a growing issue, but it’s one that we can tackle together through collective, ongoing action and awareness.

Consider what reusable swaps you can make in your everyday life to reduce your personal plastic consumption. And help reduce the risk of plastic ending up in the marine environment – where it can be near impossible to recover – by disposing of it responsibly, and collecting it if you see it out in your local environment! The action of one individual may seem insignificant, but multiply that by the thousands of Trash Heroes of all ages across the world – and that impact turns into real, systemic change.

Six Senses Yao Noi Donates Trash Hero Bottles to All Kids on the Island

by Leslie Finlay on 31/08/2019 No comments

If Trash Heroes are certain of one thing, it’s that change happens when we band together!

The Trash Hero Kids Movement is going strong in Koh Yao Noi, Thailand, where kids at local schools are taking action to save the world and learn how to live more sustainably.

The excitement grew even stronger this month thanks to Six Senses Resort, which bought new reusable Trash Hero Water Bottles for all the kids on the island! The resort also installed water filtration systems in every school on Koh Yao Noi.

Making the switch from single-use plastics to reusable alternatives is critically important to the global fight against pollution. By teaching kids this importance, Trash Hero is actively working toward a sustainable future – and building the leaders of tomorrow!

Of the 20,000 plastic drink bottles purchased globally every second, it’s estimated that 19,000 are destined for a landfill at best – or otherwise likely to wind up in the sea. By using a reusable bottle, we can each save hundreds of plastic bottles every year from this fate!

To learn more about how to get your own Trash Hero Water Bottle and our participating partners, please visit our Bottle Refill Program page.

To join the Trash Hero Kids Movement, check out https://trashhero.org/kids/

Thanks again to Six Senses Yao Noi! If you’d like to support sustainability and the Trash Hero movement in your community, get in touch!

Trash Hero Bangkok Joins Thai Stakeholders and the UNEP to Innovate Market-Based Solutions for Marine Litter Reduction

by Leslie Finlay on 10/06/2019 No comments

Last week, Trash Hero Bangkok joined regional stakeholders at a United Nations Environmental Programme-led conference in Bangkok dedicated to tackling the transboundary challenge of marine litter.

Globally, more than 80 percent of plastic marine debris comes from land-based sources. And in Asia, both rapid development and economic success has strained waste management – an issue that these stakeholders believe can be remedied by inter-sector collaboration together with galvanized public support.

Conference stakeholders gather to kick off discussions on reducing marine litter | Source: Thai Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment

Trash Heroes in Thailand have been coordinating this grassroots energy since 2013, forging community awareness of our individual roles within the global waste problem. Through action-based efforts like clean-ups and issue-focused education, Trash Hero Thailand has been a leading force to develop the public salience necessary for successful waste and plastic management to take root – to the tune of more than 79,500 volunteers educated and keeping nearly 600,000 kilograms of trash from entering the Thai marine ecosystems to date.

This new initiative led by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) called ‘The Southeast Asia Circular – solving plastic pollution at source’ connects nonprofit leaders like Trash Hero together with local government agencies, private sector representatives, and academic experts to collaborate toward market-based solutions and policies that reduce plastic production, waste, and mitigate its threats to the environment.

Source: UN Environment

Market-based conservation solutions are those that rely on the use of economic principles to achieve beneficial environmental outcomes. Research demonstrates that such approaches encourages environmental stewardship and fosters knowledge-based conservation, and successful policy comes from deliberately connecting producers and consumers. This can involve the creation of ecological markets, promoting education and public awareness, and coordinating competitors and their resources within the marketplace under a common, ecologically-driven goal.

Innovative solutions that stand to reduce marine waste are those that span the whole plastic value chain, starting with what the UNEP calls a “people-centred approach.” Through projects that support vulnerable groups impacted by plastic waste and prioritizing public education, Trash Hero has helped lay the groundwork for such coordination across the value chain through initiatives like its reusable bottles and bags project. In Thailand alone, Trash Hero has reduced upwards of 25 million plastic bottles and 6.5 million plastic bags by promoting and providing sustainable alternatives among Thais and tourists alike.

Trash Heroes in Bangkok

Such action has helped inspire complementary regulatory action: the Thai government recently announced it will phase out seven types of plastic between 2019 and 2022, with the ultimate goal of achieving a waste-free economy by 2027. This is in concert with other strategies like that of the Food and Drug Administration of Thailand, which is revising restrictions on the use of plastic in items like food packaging.

Bangkok Trash Hero Warawat Sabhavasu participated in the Stakeholder & Engagement breakout discussion, where he showcased local success stories of the progress Trash Heroes have made in the region. The UN highlighted this work in its closing ceremony, commending the action-based change Trash Heroes stand for.

Trash Hero at the UNEP Stakeholder & Engagement break out discussion

Conference stakeholders framed additional sustainability-driven solutions within the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, guided by a sufficiency economy philosophy that prioritizes balanced development and community resilience. This focus highlights how the success of innovative solutions – like green operating principles presented by Coca-Cola Thailand Ltd. and IKEA Southeast Asia, or circular economic strategies laid out by local government officials – is grounded in the work of Trash Heroes building public awareness, support, and grassroots action.

Trash Heroes in Myanmar Integral to Nation’s Ambitions for a Sustainable Future

by Leslie Finlay on 05/06/2019 1 comment

Our Trash Heroes in Myanmar met President U Win Myint at a World Environment Day event in Nay Pyi Taw. The President was originally introduced to Trash Hero in 2018, then honoring the growing national movement and its local chapters for their fantastic work, and for promoting the spirit of sustainability within their individual communities.

Trash Hero Myanmar Updates President U Win Myint on the year’s project successes

Addressing more than 400 stakeholders representing state and regional ministries, academic institutions, businesses, and special interest groups, the President urged the Burmese people to look at their own relationships with waste in their everyday lives. His message mirrored the spirit of the Trash Hero mission: that lasting, high-level change occurs from collective adjustments to our mindset and behaviours.

The President’s message is supported by a record of growing public action and awareness against waste. Myanmar’s first Trash Hero community clean was organized in Yangon in July 2016, coordinating 135 volunteers who collected more than 400 kg of rubbish. Today, Trash Hero Myanmar has expanded to 10 national chapters, who together have collected 46,517 kilograms of trash with the help of almost 17,000 volunteers – more than 5,000 of which are children.

The President’s support for movements like Trash Hero is predicated on a national ambition to develop the country as a climate-resilient, low-carbon, low-waste society.

Trash Hero Myanmar has grown quickly with 10 national chapters actively reducing the waste problem in their communities

He announced two new policies that recognize the increasing threat of extreme weather and other climate change impacts this economic and social development. These policies – called the National Environmental Policy and the Myanmar Climate Change Policy – recognize the need for collaboration among ministries, civil society, businesses, and academia. But the President also highlights the importance of public participation – through initiatives like Trash Hero – to establish a sustainable national mindset.

“I would like to urge Myanmar citizens, including all of you, to participate for the current and future sustainable development of our country by changing your daily lifestyles in order to support environmental conservation,” he said while addressing participants at the World Environment Day event.

The Heroes of Trash Hero Myanmar in Action!

Paddling the Thames – Source to Sea

by Leslie Finlay on 18/06/2018 1 comment

Our friends over at The Whale Company are currently carrying out a 300 kilometer mission to deliver “a message in a bottle” to the UK Parliament about the rising tide of plastic pollution.

The team is stand-up paddling its way along the famed UK river route – from source to sea – aboard their trademark plastic bottle boards. Along the journey they’re stopping by local communities to conduct workshops and clean-ups, visit schools and constituencies, and collect letters from the public urging their government leaders to prioritize the fight against plastic pollution. The “message in a bottle” will be delivered to Parliament on June 26, just before completion of the 300 km stretch.

The Whale Company travels the world aboard SUP boards made entirely of plastic bottles removed from the environment. Check their website for detailed how-to guides on creating your own SUP board!

Follow their journey on their website or Facebook page, and check out their route.

“It’s been great to see public awareness of plastic pollution growing, but we need our politicians to stop dragging their heels and act now,” said Carolyn Newton, co-founder of The Whale Company. “The longer we delay in taking action, the more difficult it will be for our oceans and waterways to recover from the damage we’re causing through not only our plastic use, but also our poor recycling rates.”

Currently, just 24% of the five million tons of plastic used in the UK each year is recycled.

Founders Carlos de Sousa and Carolyn Newton are no strangers to plastic pollution, having travelled the world making SUPs out of plastic bottles and completing 12 marathon paddles in 12 countries across Europe in 2017 on their Bottle Boards.

Carolyn and Carlos, founders of The Whale Company, discuss the goals of their journey with the BBC

Education is an important part of their philosophy, which led to the creation of their Bottle Boards workshops. By talking about how to use plastic waste in a different way and highlighting the problem to children and teenagers, Carlos and Carolyn hope to inspire the next generation.

Ahead of their Source to Sea paddle they have given several assemblies in schools and ran a Bottle Boards workshop at the Barnes Children’s Literature Festival, resulting in their first expedition board produced with the help of more than 200 kids.

Along their route, The Whale Company is stopping by local communities, schools, and constituencies to spread their message and collect letters to Parliament from members of the public

For more information about their epic paddle, their plastic bottle SUPs or their efforts to promote more sustainable lifestyles, contact Carolyn Newton on 07870685994, visit their Facebook page, or send a message to supmarathon@gmail.com.

Day 8. 15km. 4 hours paddling + 2 wonderful school assemblies Ep Collier Primary School At Caversham& Thameside Primary School. Huge thanks to all the teachers & pupils for their amazing welcome & enthusiasm to our cause. Finally, a big shout out to @riverandrowingmuseum for allowing us to store our bottle boards. Their fantastic Wind in the Willows exhibit made our day & was the best end to Little Nat's journey with us….until next time!

Gepostet von The Whale Company am Samstag, 16. Juni 2018

About The Whale Company

The Whale Company is a charity founded by Carolyn Newton and Carlos de Sousa to promote a more sustainable lifestyle, encourage more people to connect with nature and to change attitudes surrounding plastic use. They believe that education is the strongest tool to do this, because we protect what we love.

Running Bottle Board workshops is one aspect of this – they want people to realise that enjoying watersports doesn’t have to be expensive, and to inspire creative thinking about how we deal with our plastic waste. For more information about their activities, visit https://thewhalecompany.co.uk/.

Myanmar President Calls Trash Hero “Fantastic”

by Leslie Finlay on 12/06/2018 1 comment

Last week for World Environment Day the Trash Hero Myanmar team with Myanmar President Win Myint during a nationwide event called “Beat Plastic Pollution,” a much-needed push by the government to seek unified support from citizens, volunteer groups, and government bodies to tackle the mounting problem of waste in the country.

In the capital of Nay Pyi Taw, heroes from Mandalay, Yangon, Lashio, and Ngapali chapters presented on their ongoing projects and efforts to an incredibly supportive response from government leaders. The President himself described their work as “fantastic,” highlighting the need for such young, active, energetic heroes committed to fighting the imminent threat plastic pollution poses to our environment.

Myanmar’s National TV – MRTV – showcased Trash Hero Myanmar’s activities along with the efforts of other local groups urging the government to follow through on its consideration of legislation to reduce waste and improve waste management systems.

mrtv news

၂၀၁၈ ခုႏွစ္၊ ကမၻာ့ပတ္၀န္းက်င္ထိန္းသိမ္းေရးေန႔ အခမ္းအနားကို ေနျပည္ေတာ္တြင္က်င္းပ‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗(Unicode Version)၂၀၁၈ ခုနှစ်၊ ကမ္ဘာ့ပတ်ဝန်းကျင်ထိန်းသိမ်းရေးနေ့ အခမ်းအနားကို နေပြည်တော်တွင်ကျင်းပ

Gepostet von MRTV am Dienstag, 5. Juni 2018

Kyaw Zin John Myo, a Hero from the Mandalay chapter, said that to date the chapter has attracted more than 1,000 volunteers and 150 kids who have collected 6,650 kilograms of trash over 28 cleanups, with more and more people showing interest each cleanup. This year, he said, the group aims to focus even more on education, having already held training sessions on “how to live a Trash Hero life” in Ostello Bello Hostel in Mandalay as well as a local Monastic school.

“This year we will focus on both ‘We Clean’ and ‘We Educate,’” he said. “We are actively working with young people, university students, and also the government.”