Update | Trash Hero World

Happy Birthday Trash Hero Langkawi

by Amelia Meier on 17/10/2016 2 comments

October 17, 2016 – Trash Hero Langkawi (Malaysia) Celebrating One Year of Cleanups

Happy Birthday Trash Hero Langkawi, Malaysia. In the past year 42 cleanups have taken place, during which a total of 780 people volunteered to help and picked up 12’217 kg of trash.

Most importantly, many wonderful connections were made and a lot of young people could be reached in order to educate them about littering, burning trash, and how our daily lives affect this planet we live on.

All photos of the birthday event can be viewed here.

OceanCare and Trash Hero World

by Amelia Meier on 08/10/2016 No comments

8 October 2016 – New Collaboration with OceanCare

Our latest collaboration is with the amazing people from OceanCare. The organization has been committed to marine wildlife protection since 1989. Through research and conservation projects, campaigns, environmental education, and involvement in a range of important international committees, OceanCare undertakes concrete steps to improve the situation for wildlife in the world’s oceans. In 2011, OceanCare was granted Special Consultative Status on marine issues with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. Through environmental education, OceanCare encourages a rethinking of our attitude towards plastic and urges people not to use disposable plastic.

The organisation cooperates with Trash Hero World and supports their various beach cleaning activities.OceanCare analyses the dynamics of micro- and macroplastic pollution at sea and has, on an international level, campaigned for a ban on particularly noxious plastics and on the use of microplastic in cosmetics.

Trash Heroes at the Wasserart

by Amelia Meier on 08/10/2016 No comments

10 October 2016 – Trash Hero Portraits on Show

The Atelier Wasserart in Dettenheim (Germany) is a place dedicated to all things surrounding water. The Atelier is currently showcasing stories of Trash Heroes from all around the world, in the hopes that visitors will go away determined to reduce their own consumption of plastics.

First Cleanups in Myanmar

by Amelia Meier on 01/10/2016 No comments

September 26, 2016 – Trash Hero Myanmar

Trash Hero Myanmar cleaned Ngwe Saung with 380 people and collected a total of 3’900 kg of trash. The organisers are hoping to start various cleanups in the country.

All photos and recent information on cleanups can be found on their Facebook page here.

A 9-year old Trash Hero from China

by Amelia Meier on 29/09/2016 No comments

September 26, 2016 – Trash Hero China in the making?

Constance is 9 years old and lives in China. Together with her mother, she recently cleaned up on the Great Wall of China. Her inspiration had been the pictures of weekly cleanups coming from Trash Hero Hua Hin (Thailand), and she therefore decided to do the same in China for a day.

If everyone did their little part like Constance we would be facing a far less littered world than we are now. Thank you Constance & mother for the inspiration!

Sponsor Update 2016 (Part II): Community Waste Management in Amed

by Amelia Meier on 26/09/2016 No comments

September 26, 2016 – Trash Hero Amed, Indonesia

Another project we discussed in our newsletter to sponsors released this week is the community waste management that Trash Hero World supported with 1’200 USD in Amed, Indonesia. Historically, in small and rural communities trash and other waste is burned – but this system is no longer viable in many areas of the world. The system simply cannot cope with the never-ending volume and the amount of plastic and other toxins in modern waste makes burning and burying this garbage potentially dangerous for animals, people and the environment.

As a region, effective waste management is a challenging process, but locally communities are taking it upon themselves to preserve their paradises. Trash Hero Amed, Indonesia has been actively cleaning the community weekly for over a year.

They’ve collaborated with a local non-profit, Peduli Alam, who has developed a collection system for non-organic waste, a service provided to the community free of charge. Peduli Alam has built and installed more than 200 public rubbish bins and another 350 individual bins across 700 families, local restaurants and schools. The waste is collected almost daily and transported by Peduli Alam to a regional sorting station and a landfill site. Trash Hero World supported Peduli Alam to finance a new truck so they can continue the waste removal service for the Amed community.

Sponsor Update 2016 (Part III): T-Shirts for Indonesia

by Amelia Meier on 26/09/2016 No comments

September 26, 2016 – Trash Hero Indonesia

A third project Trash Hero World communicated to its donors was the T-Shirts that were purchased for Trash Hero Indonesia, which cost USD 1’500.

Before communities can be properly educated about the importance of waste management and recycling, awareness must already be there. 6 Trash Hero chapters (Komodo, Amed, Sanur, Ubud, Candidasa, Canggu) from Indonesia are now selling t-shirts, at no profit, in both the local language and English – all in an effort to root and spread this message. An excellent advertising tool in the Southeast Asian market, Trash Hero World has provided 500 shirts and it’s become a fashionable item of pride among many local people. Once the chapters sell the shirts they have enough money to order a new lot.

Sponsor Update 2016 (Part I): Trash Hero Bottles

by Amelia Meier on 26/09/2016 2 comments

September 26, 2016 – Trash Hero World

As we wrap up 2016, we wanted to reflect on the considerable progress made this year. This success was made possible by the many volunteers who help every week and by the generosity of donors.

The world’s mounting waste problem threatens public health, pollutes the environment and impairs development in poorer countries, and yet awareness of the scope of the problem is alarmingly low. Donations received this year have enabled Trash Hero World to launch sustainable, actionable programs to tackle those issues and ultimately change the behaviour toward waste management through awareness and education, notably in both Indonesia and Thailand.

One of these programs is the “Love Thailand Water Bottles” initiative, which Trash Hero World supported with USD 4’300. This program aims to sustainably reduce the amount of plastic bottles that end up on beaches. The bottles are sold for no profit to businesses in Thailand. The businesses sell it with a 3$ profit and in return agree to provide free drinking water refill for all Trash Hero bottles. More than 20’000 bottles have been sold since December 2014 by the communities of Koh Lipe, Koh Lanta and Chiang Mai.

Trash Hero World recently extended the project to nine additional locations in Thailand with a distribution of 1’500 bottles. We look to continue the program’s expansion to Indonesia as well. Bottle production requires two months, which is why an initial investment is necessary in order to make the bottles available to businesses. Once the bottles are sold the next order is placed.

Koh Tao for example bought 60 “Love Thailand” Bottles to convince businesses to participate and have now launched their own “Love Koh Tao” bottle with 15 participating businesses and 1’000 bottles.

90 NGOs with a vision of the future free from plastic

by Amelia Meier on 14/09/2016 1 comment

14 September 2016 – Trash Hero World

Trash Hero World is proud to be among a group of 90 NGOs, who just laid out a groundbreaking new global vision for a future free from plastic pollution. The vision lays out 10 principles. This represents the first step in a global movement to change society’s perception and use of plastics.

Letter to the UN Secretary-General

by Amelia Meier on 10/09/2016 No comments

10 September 2016 – Trash Hero World

Trash Hero World is proud to have been asked, along with 5 other global organisations, to co-sign a letter to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Read the letter here.

This honour is the result of our ongoing friendship with Let’s Do It World . Roman Peter attended their Leaders Academy in August 2016 in Estonia to learn about the plan for the World Cleanup Day on 8 September 2018. The plan is to clean up the entire world in one, massive cleanup day, with 150 countries and 380 million people. Join the Let’s Do It Movement here.