Trash Hero Malaysia | Trash Hero World

Women tackling waste

by Lydia on 07/03/2025 No comments

Women make up a huge part of the Trash Hero movement, as both volunteers and staff. This International Women’s Day, we are highlighting some of our female leaders who are tackling waste around the world and inspiring others to do the same.

Isabelle, Trash Hero Damansara

Malaysia

When Isabelle, a young volunteer from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, grew tired of watching plastic waste pile up in her neighbourhood, she felt it was time to stop talking and start doing. She discovered Trash Hero through an online search and found our proactive ethos resonated with her own.

She decided to start her own Trash Hero chapter and mobilise her fellow students to join her in tackling plastic pollution. In just a few months (August 2024 – Feb 2025), Trash Hero Damansara has organised seven cleanups with 71 volunteers, the majority of whom were under 16.

Her age is far from being a limitation: Isabelle has used her existing school network to encourage other young people to join the movement, inviting student clubs such as the SKISS Leo Club and HELP Interact Club to join the cleanups.

“Be the first to step up”

Isabelle believes that even small actions, like using reusable bags and water bottles, make a positive difference. She wants to inspire others and change their mindset. Later this year she will give a presentation at her school about reducing waste.

Her family and friends have been very supportive and she feels her experience as a Trash Hero has been valuable for her own personal growth. She remains a firm believer in taking concrete action: ”instead of waiting for others to make the first move, be the first to step up!”

Follow Trash Hero Damansara on Instagram

Hawa, Trash Hero Ambon

Indonesia

After volunteering with Trash Hero Ambon, Hawa, a teacher in Layeni Village in Ambon, became a champion of waste reduction. She says witnessing first hand the impacts of plastic pollution at the cleanups made her determined to do something about it.

She and her friends began educating local youth through their community outreach programmes, focusing on the danger of single-use plastic. At first this was challenging: although they had support from the local government, their messages were met with resistance. Changing behaviour with advocacy alone is not easy.

Then, seeing an opportunity for change at her school, Hawa built upon an existing initiative encouraging teachers to bring reusable bottles. She convinced the administration to make water refill stations available in every classroom, enabling the change she wanted to see. Now the teachers and most students bring reusable water bottles to school, instead of buying water in single-use plastic.

“Never giver up”

Hawa took practical steps to foster a school-wide culture of refill and plastic waste prevention. Her advice to other women is, “Never give up. The environment is like an old house that must be kept beautiful and pristine.

Follow Trash Hero Ambon on Facebook.

P’Jin, Trash Hero Chumphon

Thailand

Jintana Cheunjan (P’Jin) started volunteering with Trash Hero Chumphon around seven years ago. She has always loved nature, especially the sea. As a Trash Hero volunteer, she found she was always invited to events to help people manage and sort their trash. She quickly realised that this would be a never-ending job unless we stopped creating the waste in the first place.

She wanted to offer event organisers her collection of reusable bowls, cups, and cutlery as a substitute for the single-use foam and plastic they typically provided. However, she soon realised this wasn’t an easy option because her items weren’t a matching set, making them easily lost or misplaced.

“Change starts with us”

At an event with the local Lions Club, she mentioned the issue to the organisers, and they decided to donate a full set of cooking pots, utensils, plates, cups, and cutlery to Trash Hero Chumphon. For the last four years, she has been lending the set free of charge to various events in their local area, from government workshops to religious festivals.

After a while, she started keeping a log of all the events that have used her “community tableware bank” and estimates they have been able to avoid almost 38,000 pieces of single-use plastic over the past 2.5 years.

They have also received good feedback for their efforts. P’Jin says most people are happy to have the option to reduce waste rather than deal with it later. It also makes her happy to see that more zero-waste events are happening and that she is setting a good example to those around her. She is especially inspired to see the change in kids at school events they host. She tells them that every day they don’t create waste, they should feel proud of themselves.

Follow Trash Hero Chumphon on Facebook

Sofia, Trash Hero Komodo & Mburak

Indonesia

In 2008, Sofia took a trip through Southeast Asia. It was the first time she had seen pristine beaches blanketed in plastic pollution. Later, a powerful documentary about waste made clear the global scale of the problem and she felt compelled to act.

She started small, making changes in her everyday life, such as switching to reusable bags and water bottles and encouraging others to do the same. She then helped to set up Trash Hero Komodo – our first chapter in Indonesia – and later Trash Hero Mburak, organising hundreds of community cleanups and education events.

Then the discovery of permaculture profoundly reshaped her thinking. One thing in particular resonated with her: the idea that “we all need to give more than we take – or at least the same.” In other words, being “sustainable” is not enough, we need to regenerate.

“We all need to give more than we take – or at least the same.”

After further training, Sofia and her family committed to this idea full time. They slowly expanded their home vegetable garden into the Nepa Organic Farm, cultivating local fruits, herbs and vegetables. They are now able to meet their own needs and those of their one worker and his family. Surplus is sold to a few restaurants in nearby Labuan Bajo.

The farm operates without synthetic pesticides and fertilisers. No plastic packaging is used and food transportation is minimal, reducing pollution. For Sofia, the farm embodies her commitment to waste reduction and living in harmony with nature.

The journey to get here has not been easy, but she is determined to continue and wants to encourage other women to try zero waste living. For those starting out, she says it is important to look beyond obvious areas of consumption, to things like menstrual health, which involves a lot of toxic single-use plastic. It’s all about creating “new habits and making it easy for yourself”, she says.

Follow Trash Hero Komodo and Trash Hero Mburak and Facebook.

Volunteers creating the world we deserve

by Lydia on 12/02/2025 No comments

Imagine a world where everyone understands the impact of plastic on our bodies, health, and environment, and supports real solutions to the plastics crisis. A world where businesses prioritise preventing waste and the health and well-being of people and the planet.

Every week, Trash Hero volunteers are working in their communities to make this dream a reality. This year, we welcomed 14 new chapters to the Trash Hero family, and the USA and Japan rejoined our growing network. We’re now active* in 103 locations across 15 countries (Cambodia, Czech Republic, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Myanmar, Poland, Serbia, South Korea, Switzerland, Thailand, USA, and Vietnam).

Let’s take a look at the impact each of our core programmes has made:

Action and Awareness:

In 2024 alone, Trash Hero volunteers organised 2,446 community cleanups, mobilising 46,501 volunteers, including 17,036 under 16s! Together, they collected 105.2 tonnes of trash!

This brings the total impact of our Action and Awareness programme from December 2013 to December 2024 to:

23,304 cleanups organised
562,144 volunteers mobilised (including 154,918 under 16s)
2,601,608 kg of trash collected

Trash Hero Communities:

Trash Hero volunteers, through their consistent action, are given opportunities to share their knowledge and inspire others. This includes giving presentations, building zero-waste projects, and providing input at policy discussions. In 2024, Trash Hero volunteers organised or participated in 173 community events, engaging 13,537 people in the issues surrounding plastic pollution and the actions needed to solve it.

Since 2022, Trash Hero volunteers have engaged 25,685 people in 463 events.

Our Trash Hero Communities programme includes our free water refill network, which currently consists of 579 participating businesses. In 2024 alone, these businesses have helped prevent the use of 1.9 million single-use plastic bottles, avoiding 104.4 tonnes of CO2 emissions! Since the project began, we have:

distributed 111,068 reusable water bottles.
avoided 42.5 million single-use plastic bottles and 2,219.6 tonnes of CO2 emissions.

Kids and Education:

Our Trash Hero Kids programme is based on a story and activity book that engages young people in the issues of plastic pollution. In 2024, 585 kids enrolled in the programme – which over time encourages long-term behaviour change. We also ran 70 one-off awareness events for kids, introducing 5,401 under 16s to the critical issues of plastic pollution. This brings our total since we started recording in 2022, to 289 kids’ events, involving 14,510 kids!

In total, 23,330 copies of our kids’ story and activity book have been printed, and it’s available in 8 different languages.

Thank you to all of our volunteers and supporters – we could not have achieved this without you!

Join us in creating the world we deserve, a world free from plastic pollution.

Watch our latest impact video here:

https://youtu.be/qE6KZFE7-84?si=Y1KQCXiDDAuU8nLO

*Active chapters are those regularly organising Trash Hero events. If a chapter leader steps down and there is no one to replace them, or the team want to take a break for 3 months or longer, the chapter is “inactive” and not included in our reporting.

Beyond cleanups: Trash Hero in the community

by Lydia on 04/10/2024 No comments

Regular cleanups build trust and engagement within communities. Once trust has been established, volunteers can take our mission one step further through our Trash Hero Communities programme.

Trash Hero Communities aims to create consensus for zero waste systems and lifestyles that can address the plastics crisis. Events range from educational presentations to implementing reuse systems at events.

Below we showcase a few examples from our chapters around the world.

Trash Hero Tuaran, Malaysia

Trash Hero Tuaran has been actively involved in local schools for several years, giving presentations and helping them reduce plastic waste. Their efforts have led to a strong relationship with the school community, resulting in an invitation to participate in a two-day exhibition on the 11 and 12 September. Other attendees included the Department of Health and the Lok Kawi Wildlife Park.

During the exhibition, the chapter leader Wallcon, promoted the Trash Hero mission, encouraged people to join cleanups and used our series of “Educate Yourself Zero Waste” posters to start important discussions with kids and teachers. Over 350 students attended and we hope to see them at future cleanups or joining our Trash Hero Kids programme.

Trash Hero Pattani, Thailand

Trash Hero Pattani has hosted a variety of community events, including a “Repair Cafe” held on 31 August. Expert volunteers offered their skills to repair items free of charge, all attendees had to pay for was the cost of any new parts needed. At the inaugural session, six people volunteered their fixing skills, giving new life to bikes, electronics and clothing. These events, which now have a regular spot on the calendar, help to reduce waste and encourage people to think differently about consumption.

Trash Hero Indonesia

The Climate Policy Unit of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) invited Trash Hero Indonesia to a focus group discussion on public awareness and understanding of climate change. The discussions were held in several major cities across Indonesia, as the organisation strived to understand the best action to take to mitigate climate change. Trash Hero attended the discussion in Sanur in August, alongside lecturers, other NGOs and students.

The opening question, “Do people understand climate change?” sparked a lively discussion among the 17 attendees. Trash Hero representatives challenged the view that everyone understands the causes of climate change. They highlighted the fact that the entire lifecycle of plastic contributes to climate change and this is not something that is widely recognised. This prompted discussion on the need to reduce plastic production by investing in reuse and refill initiatives.

Trash Hero Luzern, Switzerland

Festivals are filled with single-use plastic, especially cups. The fields are left covered with trash that takes hours or even days to clean up. In 2017, Trash Hero Luzern helped the Sunset Beatz festival, held in Baldeggersee Lake, realise things had to change! Together, they developed a deposit return system for drinks. Festival-goers deposit $2 for a reusable cup, which they get back when the cup is returned. The new system has been used every year since, preventing the use of over 100,000 single-use plastic cups, and saving the organisers and volunteers hours of cleanup time!

Trash Hero Nagekeo – Indonesia

Volunteers from Trash Hero Nagekeo collaborated with Soverdia Nagekeo to reduce single-use plastic at a conference in June: “Laudato si’ wajah bumi yang terluka”. Usually, such events rely heavily on single-use plastics, with water provided in single-use bottles or cups, lunch served in plastic boxes and many food items wrapped in plastic.

To reduce plastic usage, volunteers approached local businesses, requesting reusable cups, glasses, plates and cutlery for the 400 attendees over 3 days. Some businesses donated items, while others agreed to loan them. The plates and glasses may all be different colours and sizes, but it’s a beautiful representation of how, with the help of passionate and dedicated volunteers, a community can come together to reduce plastic.

These examples demonstrate the diverse ways in which Trash Hero Communities can start long-term change. By going beyond cleanups and fostering sustainable practices, we can create a cleaner and healthier future for everyone.

To learn more about our Trash Hero communities programmes click here. To find your nearest chapter and see if they can help your event go zero waste, click here.

The key to volunteer motivation: Trash Hero Family Meetings

by Lydia on 26/06/2024 1 comment

What keeps Trash Hero volunteers organising regular cleanups year round? Perhaps the secret lies in our regular Trash Hero Family Meetings. Here, our chapter teams can network, share and better understand the “why” behind our actions. It’s an intense and often deep experience. As one volunteer from Thailand put it: “there is no other seminar as worthwhile to the soul and to the world“.

These meetings bring volunteers together for 3 days of:

knowledge building: workshops and presentations on the issues surrounding plastic pollution
skill strengthening: building capacity for community leadership
boosting motivation: creating positive energy and inspiration through sharing and connecting with others

This year’s Family Meetings, held in Indonesia and Thailand, centred around a fundamental question: why do we do cleanups?

The answer – which is not necessarily what people expect – shaped the rest of the content: to provide education about zero waste and build community engagement.

Workshops encouraged volunteers to think critically about waste. We explored the big picture, understanding that litter is just a symptom of a larger systemic problem.
Informative presentations shared new knowledge about the impact plastic has on the climate and our health.
Group sessions looked at building trust in communities, leadership skills and effective communication.
Games and quizzes helped keep everyone energised while also reinforcing the learning material.
A group cleanup showed the possibility for education, best practices and (in Indonesia) a brand audit.

The Indonesian gathering saw almost 60 participants travel from all corners of the country to Sanur, Bali from 31 May – 2 June.

In Thailand, the event took place from 7 – 9 June in Bangkok. It brought together participants from across Southeast Asia, including Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam and Myanmar. Sessions took place in parallel in Thai and English, with volunteers happily mingling during the breaks and cleanup activity. As one volunteer from Malaysia said “language was no barrier at all when you feel and see the same things”

The sessions with guest speakers, leadership coaches Pak Made Pay (Indonesia) and Khun Amnat (Thailand), proved very popular, with their insights into team building and the qualities needed for effective leadership. Thank you to both for sharing their wisdom, which will no doubt have an impact on our chapter teams. We hope to provide similar training to all volunteers soon.

Following the meetings, we sent out a feedback survey to all participants and the response was overwhelmingly positive. 100% of volunteers who replied felt more knowledgeable about both zero waste and plastic pollution, and 96% felt their motivation increased. One volunteer from Thailand commented: “the event made me know more about plastic waste, from the source to the solutions, with activities that connect people from different regions.”

Trash Hero World fully supports the family meetings, covering the travel, food, accommodation costs for all participants. We also handle the logistics and content design, creation and delivery.

In July, volunteers from Trash Hero in Switzerland and Germany will hold a zero waste picnic to celebrate their hard work and support new chapter leaders. The shared experiences, the learning and the connections – these are the things that keep us all motivated in our mission to create a world free from plastic pollution.

Let’s keep the momentum going.

Trash Hero Indonesia Family Meeting 31 May – 2 June

Location: Sanur, Bali

Participants: 57

Chapters: 27

Trash Hero Family Meeting Thailand 7-9 June

Location: Bangkok, Thailand

Participants: 40

Chapters: 22

Family meetings to support and celebrate our amazing volunteers

by Lydia on 15/01/2024 1 comment

Trash Hero Kota Kinabalu leader, Zurainee, was excited to meet her volunteers in a different setting: “it felt good spending time with heroes in a different and ‘cleaner’ platform”.

It’s true that when they usually meet – before, during and after cleanups – Trash Hero volunteers are engrossed in the task at hand. Most of their training is done on the job.

Our Family Meetings, which were most recently held during the last quarter of 2023, give them a chance to spend time together in a different way. They allow for more in-depth discussions, planning and knowledge-building, as well as providing an opportunity to develop stronger friendships and support systems.

During November 24 – 26, Trash Hero Indonesia hosted its second Family Meeting of the year in Bali, for all active chapters within the country. Seventy participants joined the three-day event from 33 different locations.

Seventy participants from 33 locations joined the 3-day event in Indonesia

The country team delivered a packed agenda focused on the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of our activities. The volunteers learned the basic principles of zero waste communities and about the impacts of plastic pollution on climate, human health and biodiversity through interactive games and mini-workshops. They also honed their skills in effective communication, community engagement and strategic planning.

Rima Agustina, Trash Hero World’s Programme Coordinator, who led the event, said: “It was probably our most successful family meeting to date in terms of engagement. I am so inspired by our volunteers’ energy and willingness to learn these challenging topics.”

Feedback from the volunteers confirmed this impression. Clara Keban, a participant from Trash Hero Belu, said that she “learned many things from great friends and mentors […] Other than that, the most important thing that I got from this activity is kinship, cohesiveness and togetherness”.

Trash Hero World covers all the costs for the national Family Meetings, including the participants’ travel, accommodation and food, as well as the planning and logistics.

In other parts of the world, chapter leaders hosted local Chapter Family Meetings. These were first introduced in 2022 when COVID-19 restrictions eased, but travel restrictions meant we couldn’t host national Family Meetings. The feedback we received from volunteers was fantastic, so we have made them a regular event. The budget is again provided by Trash Hero World and, in some cases, local sponsors.

Participants working together, Trash Hero Langsuan

Chapters can make their own agenda for the meetings: some focused on team building with active volunteers, while others extended invitations to the public, community leaders and local government representatives, to broaden and strengthen their support base.

For example, Trash Hero Mersing in Malaysia organised a zero waste picnic at their local beach. They invited kids who had previously joined their cleanups – and their friends. The picnic, with fun games and prizes, was a great example of how to host events without creating waste, as well as a nice way to thank the children for their participation and engage more kids in their activities. Other Malaysian chapters, Trash Hero Cherating and Trash Hero Tuaran, also organised zero waste picnics for their teams.

Trash Hero Langsuan in Thailand held a full day of activities for their volunteers and involved representatives from the local government, temple and even the district hospital who gave a presentation on the health dangers of trash.

Trash Hero Tha Sala, Thailand, Trash Hero Bern, Switzerland and Trash Hero Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, used the Chapter Family Meeting to reflect on what they achieved in 2023 and what they hope to accomplish in 2024.

Chapter Family Meeting numbers so far:

Thailand: 28 adults, 21 kids, 4 locations

Malaysia: 31 adults, 32 kids, 4 locations

Switzerland: 8 adults, 1 location

Chapter Family Meetings continue to take place in early 2024.

Thank you to everyone who participated in, organised and supported these events. Now we are fully charged and ready for another year of action!

Volunteer training 2023 kicks off with over 100 participants

by Lydia on 13/06/2023 No comments

The incredible impact that Trash Hero has had is due to the dedication and commitment of our volunteers. They are the movement’s driving force, and their positive attitude and hard work is inspiring

To keep this spirit alight, Trash Hero World holds regular on-site “Family Meetings”, which allow active volunteers inside our major countries of operation to meet and share new knowledge and experiences. In April and May this year, we hosted a one-day event in Switzerland and 3 x three-day residential events in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.

“It was great to see the Swiss Trash Hero Family again, share different experiences, learn from each other and spend a great time together.” Fabio, Trash Hero Bern, Switzerland

In Southeast Asia, volunteers got to know each other through small group work and games, mixing serious learning with plenty of fun. The first day was spent introducing the principles of zero waste systems, including the importance of waste separation, debunking false solutions such as incineration and mapping the problem of waste management in a small island community. Of particular interest was the composting workshop: many participants were keen to try this out on their return home.

The focus of the second day was improving community engagement – exploring how the Trash Hero values and consistent approach establishes trust. This can then be built on to create long term change, for example with the kids’ book programme or the water bottle refill network. The workshops covered social media skills to help increase participation in activities and how to provide meaningful education through cleanups.

“Professional speakers and very good material for us to make improvements in our respective chapters”. Jack, Trash Hero Biak, Indonesia

On day three, volunteers were asked to reflect on the new knowledge and skills they had learned and prepare a strategic action plan to take back to their chapters. Together with support from our mentor teams, this will help to guide their activities over the next six months.

With new friendships formed and new energy found, we see the network stronger than ever moving forward. We are thankful to everyone involved in organising the transport, accommodation and food, creating, facilitating and presenting the sessions, and of course to all those who took time off work to join us.

“This Family Meeting is very extraordinary for each of us chapters to motivate each other more” Trash Hero Volunteer, Indonesia

In total 108 participants joined the Family Meetings from 54 chapters

Trash Hero Switzerland Family Meeting

Date: 23 April 2023

Location: Luzern, Switzerland

Participants: 15

Chapters: 6

Trash Hero Indonesia Family Meeting

Date: 5-7 May 2023

Location: Bali, Indonesia

Participants: 67

Chapters: 33

Trash Hero Malaysia Family Meeting

Date: 12-14 May 2023

Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Participants: 9

Chapters: 4

Trash Hero Thailand Family Meeting

Date: 19-21 May 2023

Location: Pattani, Thailand

Participants: 24

Chapters: 11

Thank you to CFLI for supporting the event in Thailand

Group of volunteers smiling at the camera. ll are wearing Trash Hero -shirts

Our Impact up to 31st December 2022

by Lydia on 15/02/2023 2 comments

Every week volunteers around the world put on their yellow t-shirts and commit to working towards a world free from plastic pollution – but what does it really mean to be a Trash Hero?

It means that we are a global movement. Trash Hero is currently active in 139 locations in 17 countries. To date, our movement has mobilised 466,578 volunteers, 120,673 of whom were under 16! We are passionate about including a wide range of people in our activities, and we celebrate this diversity as much as possible.

Being a Trash Hero also means taking regular action against plastic pollution. In 2022 alone, Trash Hero volunteers organised 3,296 cleanups – an average of 9 cleanups a day and 45 kgs per event! This brings our total number of cleanups since 2013 to an incredible 18,206, removing a total of 2,302,862 kgs of trash

We help people reduce single-use plastic through our refill and reuse programmes. To date, we have distributed 106,188 reusable water bottles through our partner network, which includes 673 points where people can refill their bottle for free. This has prevented an incredible 38,8 million single-use plastic bottles from being used and has reduced 2017.572 tonnes of CO2 emissions. We have also distributed 29,520 reusable Trash Hero bags, preventing the use of 10.8 million single-use plastic bags

Trash Hero is also committed to inspiring a new generation of activists! Our dedicated kids programme, which began in 2018, has helped 23,330 kids build sustainable habits. This is done through our story and activities book

As well as hands-on action within communities, Trash Hero is committed to collecting data that can be used to influence policy change on plastic. Trash Heroes have conducted 402 brand audits that have been included in reports holding corporate polluters responsible. These reports have been submitted to the UN negotiations for a Global Plastics Treaty.

But it’s not just about the numbers. Being a Trash Hero means that we feel connected with your fellow volunteers, we are motivated to create change and we are thankful to everyone who supports and contributes to our movement.

And most of all, it means that we are family!

Thank you to all of our volunteers who have been part of the incredible impact that we have had. We can’t wait to see what 2023 brings!

We have been collecting data since December 2013; as of 31st December 2022 these are our numbers!

18,206 cleanups
139 active chapters in 17 countries
466,578 volunteers, including 120,673 under 16s
Responsibly collected and disposed of 2,302,862 kg of trash
As part of the Trash Hero Bottle program, 106,188 reusable bottles have been distributed, avoiding 38.8 million single-use plastic bottles and reducing 2,107 tonnes of CO2 emissions
As part of the Trash Hero Bag program, 29,520 reusable Trash Hero bags have been distributed, saving 10.8 million single-use plastic bags

Do you want to be part of a movement that is dedicated to creating change? Trash Hero cleanups are open for everyone to join – no cost, no sign-up, just show up! Find your nearest chapter here.

Nearly 100 participants join our second round of training in 2022

by Lydia on 12/12/2022 No comments

Volunteers are the heart of Trash Hero and the movement’s driving force.

They organise cleanups, educate kids about plastic pollution, and build essential community ties – all in their free time. We want to ensure that Trash Hero volunteers are well-equipped to engage their communities in reducing plastic and feel confident in their skills to lead a successful chapter. To do this, we host a biannual volunteer training workshop – Trash Hero Family Meetings.

In October and November, we went to Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, and brought together leaders of our Trash Hero chapters for the second time this year. In total, 96 participants attended from 51 chapters in 4 countries.

We host Family Meetings in countries with a high concentration of active chapters. Chapter leaders are invited to attend, free of charge, and are provided with the opportunity to learn new skills or refresh ones they gained at previous Family Meetings. The meetings help participants strengthen their relationships and support systems, and the local knowledge shared at the events is used to help develop Trash Hero programmes and goals.

The training was attended by a mixture of old and new chapter leaders. Throughout 2022 there have been many new Trash Hero chapters that have started in Southeast Asia, and there have also been many that have been reactivated since COVID restrictions were lifted.

Throughout each weekend, we provided leadership training, information about the importance of zero waste and how to share their knowledge with others at their cleanups. There was the chance to develop skills, such as training their regular volunteers and building their core team. One of the workshops that received the best feedback was the opportunity to develop a strategy for their chapters, examine their goals and dreams for their community with regards to waste, and create a plan that will see these come to life.

There were also team-building activities, the opportunity for discussions and feedback and – of course – a cleanup!

The feedback we received from participants was fantastic, and, as always, we can’t wait to see everyone again next year!

Find the full details for each location below

Trash Hero Indonesia Family Meeting

Date: 14-16 October 2022

Location: Bali, Indonesia

Participants: 67

Chapters: 36

Trash Hero Thailand Family Meeting

Date: 28-30 October 2022

Location: Pattaya, Thailand

Participants: 23

Chapters: 9

Thank you to the CFLI for their generous contribution towards this event

Trash Hero Malaysia Family Meeting

Date: 4-6 November 2022

Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Participants: 11

Chapters: 6

Brand Audit Report 2022: the results are in!

by Lydia on 09/12/2022 No comments

In November, Break Free From Plastic released their 5th annual Brand Audit report. As well as documenting which companies are responsible for the majority of plastic counted this year, it analyses which corporations have been responsible for the majority of plastic pollution for five consecutive years.

The 2022 report consisted of 397 brand audits on six continents; 14,760 volunteers participated, counting and auditing 429,994 pieces of plastic from 4,645 parent companies.

The reports found that these companies were the top polluters for 2022!

The Coca-Cola Company
PepsiCo
Nestlé
Mondelēz International
Unilever
Procter & Gamble
Mars, Inc.
Philip Morris International
Danone
Colgate-Palmolive

Trash Hero contributed significantly to these findings. We submitted 30% (120) of the brand audits used in the report, 6.8% (29,504) of the plastics counted, and 18.2% (2,968) of volunteers that took part were Trash Heroes!

As this is the fifth annual brand audit report, Break Free From Plastic took the opportunity to analyse longitudinal data trends from the five years of data they have collected. They found that Coca-Cola, Nestle and Pepsico have consistently been the top single-use plastic polluters over that time.

Coca-cola has been the worst plastic polluter by a significant lead, with the amount of Coca-Cola branded plastic increasing each year! According to the report, they accounted for 31,000 pieces of plastic collected during the brand audits – representing a 61% increase since 2021! This is unsurprising as a recent report found that their plastic production has increased by nearly 10%!

Break Free From plastic members submitted data from this report at the first annual INC meeting – a meeting of UNEA member governments to discuss the global plastic treaty. This crucial meeting started the negotiation process for the treaty’s terms and included representatives from the plastics industry and civil society groups. The information from the report highlights the need for large corporations to take responsibility for their role in plastic pollution, and it shows that the only way to reduce plastic pollution is to reduce the production of plastic.

We are so proud to be part of such an important movement and play a role in influencing policies that will address the plastics crisis. We want to say a massive thank you to all of the Trash Hero volunteers who have contributed to this data over the years. We have been collecting data for this project since it began, and seeing it be part of such an important event makes the hard world worthwhile.

Thank you to Break Free From Plastic for analysing all the data and representing our views at the INC1 this week.

Trash Hero helps to find world’s top plastic polluters

by Lydia on 13/10/2022 No comments

At the end of September, we concluded our brand audit data collection for the year. This year we conducted 120 Brand Audits! These were completed by 57 chapters in 6 countries – Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Switzerland, Poland and Georgia. There were 1,620 volunteers that took part and they recorded 29,504 pieces of plastic.

A brand audit categorises the plastic we collect at cleanups (food packaging, household products, personal care, smoking materials) and, most importantly, records the name of the parent company that manufactured it. We share this data with Break Free From Plastic, who use it as part of their annual Brand Audit Report.

Break Free From Plastic released its first annual Brand Audit Report in 2018 to identify and hold the top plastic polluters accountable. The globally collected data can be used as evidence to push large corporations to take responsibility for the waste that they create. It drives a movement towards systemic change and a zero waste economy and generates pressure to create real solutions to the plastics crisis.

The 2021 report named The Coca-Cola Company, PepsiCo, Unilever, Nestlé, Procter & Gamble, Mondelēz International, Philip Morris International, Danone, Mars, Inc., and Colgate-Palmolive as the top plastic polluting companies. Coca-cola, PepsiCo, Unilever and Nestle have been in the top five since the reports began.

We want to say a huge thank you to all the Trash Hero chapters and volunteers who took the time to conduct a brand audit. Trash Hero has been one of the top contributors to Brand Audit data collection for the last five years and we couldn’t do it without the incredible commitment of our Trash Hero volunteers.

The full report will be released later in the year. Who do you think will be named the top plastic polluters? Let us know in the comments!