Features | Trash Hero World

Trash Hero @ Work is growing in Switzerland

by Seema on 20/06/2018 No comments

On 5 June 2018, Trash Hero Switzerland had the opportunity to present to some of XL Catlin’s staff at one of their “lunch and learn” sessions in Zurich. We had a very engaged audience and introduced them to the work Trash Hero does worldwide and also to our Trash Hero @ Work program.

The following week, we also had the opportunity to take part in Zurich Insurance’s Community Week. We introduced staff from Zurich’s International Programs team to the work Trash Hero does worldwide and also to our Trash Hero @ Work program. Afterwards they rolled up their sleeves and got stuck in with a very productive clean-up along the Limmat and Sihl rivers in Zürich.

28 people took part in the cleanup and we collected 140 kg of trash (pictured above). We had a really great time with Zurich Insurance and found their engagement very inspiring.

The Trash Hero @ Work program will support your company in reducing the amount of waste you produce, and award Trash Hero certification upon successful implementation of our waste-saving measures. The program fosters cooperation and strengthens team spirit, as well as enhancing your “green credentials” with your customers, employees and suppliers.

Update September 2021: Trash Hero @ Work is no longer running.

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.

New report unveils the limitations and wastefulness of plastic food packaging

by Leslie Finlay on 25/05/2018 No comments

A recent report by “Zero Waste Europe” and “FOE Europe” reveals that the rise in plastic food packaging in Europe is failing to reduce the continent’s growing food waste problem, and in some cases may even be fueling it.

The waste supply chain | © Friends of the Earth Europe

The study, titled Unwrapped: how throwaway plastic is failing to solve Europe’s food waste problem (and what we need to do instead), was conducted over a 10 year period between 2004 – 2014 and demonstrated that in this time, household food waste doubled to an estimated 30 million tones per year, while plastic packaging waste increased by 50%, at 15 million tonnes. According to the report, the data suggests that almost half of plastic waste is directly from food packaging.

These levels of waste are not only expensive – estimated at a €143 billion loss for the EU annually, the same amount as its annual operational budget – but are highly problematic for both waste management and the environment. Plastic packaging is often touted as a solution to avoid food waste, but this landmark study indicates exactly the opposite – plastic waste is nearly always thrown away after its first use, and levels of food waste across the region are at all-time-high levels. What’s more, the report investigated other consequences of plastic wrapping, such as the growing risk to consumers from chemical migration into the body.

Overpackaging in retail | © Friends of the Earth Europe

The problem is complex and entrenched, however, and the challenges of food waste and plastic packaging waste are best tackled together by evolving our view of plastic in the food industry. The study’s authors draw several recommendations that begin with simple acknowledgement of the issue, and revolve around changing our communal attitude to our relationships with plastic and food waste.

Actions Against Overpackaging | © Friends of the Earth Europe

Key actions recommended by the study include:

Develop a holistic, evidence-based approach to the role of plastic packaging in the food system
Policymakers must review legislation to assess and address gaps
Use market-based instruments to prompt behavioral change
Provide greater investment and funding for waste prevention systems

While high-level action can guide the way, tackling the problem of waste in our everyday lives is up to individual choice and action. Households can change their purchasing and consumption behaviors and implement reusable approaches to food preservation, and choose to purchase groceries and other items from responsible and environmentally-minded businesses.

Promoting alternatives | © Friends of the Earth Europe

Check out the full report, available here in Danish, Spanish, English, French, and German to learn more about this groundbreaking study and what its authors believe is the best way forward.

Koh Lanta Gets Creative with Upcycling

by Leslie Finlay on 02/04/2018 1 comment

Many countries around the world have banned the use of polystyrene – also commonly known as styrofoam – because of its extremely negative environmental impact.

For years the material was a popular packaging for food items, electronics, furniture, and disposables because of its light weight, low expense, and wide availability. However, the material is essentially non-biodegradable meaning it can take hundreds or even thousands of years to decompose, and can also easily break apart into little bits that are ingested by animals and sea life. What’s more, both the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) have classified polystyrene as a possible human carcinogen.

Polystyrene is one of the most difficult nonrenewable materials to responsibly dispose of. Its light weight and bulkiness means it easily travels around via wind or waves.

In 2016, the Thai Office of Consumer Protection Board (OCPB) launched its Safety Without Polystyrene Foam in Food Packaging project to encourage the domestic food industry to quit using the product in its packaging. The government has also been open to discussions about subsidizing more sustainable alternatives for vendors like cardboard. The subsequent reduction nationwide has been dramatic in some areas, but our Trash Heroes continue to collect vast amounts of the discarded material washing up on the beach. The point source is almost impossible to estimate, as winds can waves can easily carry the lightweight chunks over hundreds of kilometers of ocean.

Trash Hero Koh Lanta meets every Sunday at 4:00PM at Long Beach park to preserve this stunning paradise.

Even when collected polystyrene is incredibly difficult to dispose of responsibly, especially considering that it’s usually quite bulky. So our heroes on Koh Lanta rose to the challenge and found this creative way to up-cycle the waste while making ultra-cosy bean bag chairs for lounging around after an afternoon clean!

With a little ingenuity and creative spirit, the team built this polystyrene shredder that easily breaks those large chunks down into useable pieces perfect for stuffing plush bean bag chairs. It’s a great answer to taking a local challenge and turning it into a cheap, new indulgence for their paradise.

Trash Hero Koh Lanta developed a polystyrene crusher to help dispose of the chunks they collect during cleanups, and create awesome new additions to their beachfront!

While these awesome methods help manage our waste in the present, the best option is to always aim to reduce our single-use waste in our everyday lives. Shop for items that aren’t wrapped in plastic and carry your own reusable containers and cutlery to limit the need for single-use takeaway items. It’s these small changes on the individual level that can help us all ensure a beautiful future.

What local waste challenges does your community face, and what sort of ways have you found to manage it?

Trash Hero Kid’s Book: Meet the Illustrator!

by Leslie Finlay on 29/11/2017 No comments

We have almost two thirds of our target funds to produce our #trashherokids book! Thank you to all who have donated so far. Not donated yet? Take that small step now: https://www.100-days.net/en/projekt/trashhero-children-s-book

Many people have commented on the beautiful illustrations in the book and indeed, we chose our artist for her evocative, sensitive treatment of the story, rather than the cartoon style so often seen in children’s environmental stories.

Here, we want to share with you Ewelina’s own story of how she came to the project.

*DREAMS COME TRUE*

“This project is very important to me, it’s very close to my heart, so I want to tell you the story how it all started for me. Maybe later you will become a part of the project too :).

I’m in love with nature, underwater life or forests are sacred for me. But these places are in danger.

Once I was swimming on the coral reefs and I saw an amazing, impressive giant blue starfish. I swam just a bit further and something blue took my attention again. I expected to see another beautiful animal, but what I found was just a blue plastic bag. Oh my, it was such a sad view. At moment like this you just want to cry. You are aware you are in such amazing world, but this world will disappear if we do not care enough.

After this experience I had a very specific dream – I dreamed about picking up trash in Bali!

In the beginning I felt little ashamed to tell it to anyone, my mom could have said “Hey kid, you should do bigger things than collecting trash!”. So I kept it secret for a while 😉

One year later I decided to move to Bali and it was the best time to realise the dream!

But of course I would feel awkward to do this alone. So I was ready to write an advertisement to find other crazy people to join me in this adventure. Then I found out about Trash Hero! First we were only three people, but after few months the group grew bigger, even kids from local schools were involved.

When I returned to Poland, a dear Balinese friend told me that Trash Hero World had the idea how to explain other kids why it’s important to take care of our world, and they looked for an illustrator. I applied for the contest. I wanted to take part in a project that is so close to my heart. I love this world and I want to make it better.

Together with Trash Hero we have prepared a wonderful, very inspiring book that stimulates the sensitivity of children to the surrounding world. I believe this book is giving important lessons of loving our planet and has to reach all children all over the globe, starting in Asia.”

Ewelina Wajgert is a Polish graphic artist, who graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk. Follow Ewelina here: https://www.facebook.com/wajgert/

#togetherwemakeadifference

How to Live Sustainably: Look for Microplastics

by Leslie Finlay on 12/11/2017 1 comment

Did you know that you might be accidentally flushing plastic into the environment every time you brush your teeth?

These tiny ocean invaders, called microplastics, are small bits of polyethylene plastic added to many health and beauty products. They replace traditionally sustainable exfoliants because of cost and ease of manufacturing.

Source: The Science Explorer

The problem is that these microplastics easily pass through filtration systems and ultimately wind up in the ocean or other water sources. There, they eaten by animals and quickly and travel up the food chain through bioaccumulation, even into our food sources.

The good news is that this is a pretty easy problem for us to fix together simply by understanding what is in the products that we buy. When choosing personal care products, look for one of the five signatory ingredients:

Polyethylene (PE)
Polypropylene (PP)
Polythylene terephthalate (PET)
Polymethy methcrylate (PMMA)
Nylon

It’s simple. Choose products that do not contain any of these ingredients and know that you’re keeping a little more plastic from entering the environment!

To make matters even easier, there’s a free App available in many countries (and counting!) called Beat the Microbead. Developed by the North Sea Foundation and the Plastic Soup Foundation, the App can scan a product’s barcode to check if microbeads are included in its production. Beat the Microbead also offers product lists by country to help you identify and choose products that do not contain microplastics.

Come Join The Trash Isles!

by Leslie Finlay on 22/10/2017 17 comments

This month, UN spokesman for the UN’s Secretary-General Stéphane Dujarric was granted a certificate of honorary citizenship to an area that hopes to become the world’s 196^th nation – the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, or formally known today as The Trash Isles. He’ll join the ranks of other citizens like Al Gore (the first applicant) and actress Judi Dench.

Source: LADbible

The movement to designate the France-sized garbage patch as its own nation was spurred by advocates from the Plastics Oceans Foundation and UK-based entertainment company LADbible. Today it boasts its own flag, passport, currency (appropriately called ‘debris’), and more than 140,000 “citizens” from countries spanning the globe, making The Trash Isles the 25^th-smallest country in the world.

The “country” hopes to be the latest member to the United Nations. As a member-country, the other 193 UN nations would be compelled to help clean up the new nation per the UN’s charter.

Source: LADbible

The Trash Isles itself is actually a massive soup of floating microplastics, which renders it incredibly tricky to clean up and severely dangerous to the ecosystem. Through bioaccumulation, these microplastics have a good chance of winding up in our food supply, harming marine life along the way.

The campaign, and its vast multinational participation, draws attention to the enormity of our waste problem and the fact that it is our collective responsibility to mitigate and remedy it.

So what can you do?

We can stop adding to the problem by limiting our use of single-use plastics and employing sustainable alternatives, like Trash Hero bottles and bags.
Pick up trash in your community, either on your own or find a cleanup in your area.
Separate your trash. Recycle what is possible for your area, and find ways to use items that are non-recyclable.
Encourage others to also develop sustainable habits.
Start a local Trash Hero chapter to establish enduring, consistent change at your local level.

Through this collective behavioral change we can keep this new nation from growing in size.

To help raise further awareness, “apply for citizenship” of The Trash Isles here.

Let’s Get Plastic Off the Menu

by Leslie Finlay on 07/10/2017 No comments

This week, Malta hosted the annual EU-backed “Our Ocean 2017” conference to support measures to improve ocean health. This year’s discussion revolved heavily around the necessity to reduce plastic waste from entering the marine environment.Prince Charles of the UK delivered the opening speech urging for the movement away from a “throw-away, convenience lifestyle” that dumps more than eight million tonnes of plastic into the ocean every year.

“We are very close to reaching the point when whatever wild-caught fish you eat will contain plastic. Plastic is indeed now on the menu,” he said.

While policy-making and inter-governmental cooperation are of paramount importance, change can begin today among all of us. Trash Heroes globally pledge the commitment to break the cycle of single-use plastic like bags, bottles, straws, cutlery, and other everyday items.

Trash Hero’s Bottles and Bags program is expanding across many participating countries, substantially reducing the amount of plastic bottles and bags that end up on the beaches, in the sea, and in our communities. Just one reusable water bottle or bag can save huge amounts of plastic from winding up in the environment.

Trash Hero’s goal is to distribute 115,000 bottles through 500 participating businesses in 30 locations worldwide within the next three years, and 150 business distribute 51,000 reusable bags. This initiative can save an estimated 41 million plastic bottles and 5.1 million plastic bags from being used.

Want to buy a reusable bottle or bag or learn how to become a participating business? Get in touch to find out how!

It Only Takes One Hero to Make an Impact – From Bali Beaches & Beyond

by Leslie Finlay on 29/08/2017 No comments

Esther Thomet recently attended the National Geographic Student Expedition, a student travel program run through various locations around the world that aims to inspire and educate middle school and high school students.

While in Tulamben in Northeastern Bali, a representative from Trash Hero introduced the student group to the organization before they took to the beaches to help clean alongside local Balinese children. During the presentation, Esther said that the group was shown video of a sea turtle with a straw up its nose.

“I cried because it was devastating to watch the harmful human influence on nature,” she said. “I knew then that I wanted to help.”

While she participated locally, the spirit of Trash Hero instilled within Esther long after her trip. She said that the strongest part of Trash Hero’s message is not only that they actively clean and conserve, but they are teaching others in the process.

“From a single beach cleanup and small lesson I learned what kinds of plastics to look out for and where they are commonly hidden, how to help prevent the use of plastics in everyday activities, and what affects we will have on the ocean, and world in general, if we continue to use plastic at this rate,” she said.

Education of this sort is lasting and far-reaching, and inspires others, like Esther, that they can make a difference.

“I wanted to go home and fundraise because I was very inspired by the thought that someone like me could make an impact,” Esther said. “I wanted to spread Trash Hero’s message to my friends and family.”

Returning home, Esther coordinated donations totaling $500 for Trash Hero World, in the process living up to Trash Hero’s message of education and inspiration, eager to share what she had learned with others and incorporate changes into her everyday life.

“The trip mainly changed the way I view the world,” Esther said. “I am very conscious about how much trash I am producing, how to limit my trash production, and how to make others aware about how they can get involved and help as well.”

Collaboration and togetherness are the clear keys to transformative progress. For other aspiring heroes, Esther believes that by remembering the reasons for why we work for a passion, we can achieve anything.

“I once had a teacher who told me that it doesn’t matter what career or life path I choose, as long as I do so with pride, dedication, and hope for the future,” she said.

“Trash Monsters” at Wonderfruit Festival Dazzle and Inspire

by Leslie Finlay on 23/08/2017 No comments

The three day “Wonderfruit Festival Pattaya” is the biggest music- and arts festival in Thailand with a mission to “encourage, develop and innovate creative solutions for sustainable living and bring together a global community to celebrate them. We use our platform to catalyze creativity and make a meaningful, positive impact.”

Alongside well-known musical acts, workshops, art installations, banquets and presentations are also held in the spirit of this ethos. Topics encourage participation and range from sustainability and the environment to social responsibility.

This year, well-known Thai artist Tom Potisit created a 3-meter long “trash monsters” on behalf of Trash Hero Thailand that came to life for several performances with the help of professional dancers.

The “Little Monsters”, named DukDik and KukKoo, were inspired by deep-deep sea animals such as Anglerfish and extinct shrimp-like animal called the Anomalocarididsx to raise awareness about how the waste we create affects all living organisms – even deep seas creatures. He worked to collaborate between active Trash Hero chapters along the coast of the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman coast to collect trash from the ocean, including fishing equipment, lighters, toys, sunglasses, and more. His production team carefully assembled DukDik and KukKoo and created a personality for both creatures in order to make them truly come alive at the festival, fully equipped with LED lights to light up the campaign.

The founder of Wonderfruit, Pranitan “Pete” Phornprapha, was originally inspired by environmental projects from his community, but sought to celebrate social awareness in a fun, relevant and contemporary way.

The attitude is put into practice at the festival, as well. On-site water filtration allows festival-goeers to refill reusable water bottles on sale, and all drinks and food are served in biodegradable or reusable containers. A local organization, Thailand Young Farmers, provide locally-grown, organic produce for the banquets, and a portion of each ticket sale is contributed to the Rimba Raya Biodiversity Reserve in Borneo, Malaysia, to offset carbon emissions and make Wonderfruit a carbon neutral event. A collaboration between the festival and Johnnie Walker contributed a portion of drink sales to the planting of more than 1,000 mangrove trees in Myanmar. Several Trash Hero volunteers held presentations during the festival, as well, about their experiences in the field to raise more awareness about waste issues.