A Guide for Organizations and Businesses Looking to Celebrate

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "A Guide for Organizations and Businesses Looking to Celebrate"

Colin Hodges
5 years ago
Views:

1 A Guide for Organizations and Businesses Looking to Celebrate World Environment Day 5 June 2018

2 Beat Plastic Pollution If you can t reuse it, refuse it #BeatPlasticPollution

3 Introduction Plastic pollution is one of the biggest environmental challenges of our time, with statistics showing that there will be more plastic in the oceans than fish by To change the future, we each need to play our part. Whether it is a bottled soft drink, a bag from the supermarket, or a spoon in a coffee shop, single-use plastic has become embedded in our daily lives. The low cost, convenience and lightness of these products have revolutionized the packaging of goods. However, it is now clear that this convenience has had a catastrophic impact on the environment. About World Environment Day World Environment Day takes place every year on 5 June. It is the United Nations flagship day for promoting worldwide awareness and action for the environment. Over the years, it has grown to be one of the largest global platforms for public outreach, celebrated by millions of people in well over 100 countries. It is the People s Day for doing something positive for the environment. Its aim is to harness individual actions and transform them into a collective power that has a legacy of real and lasting impact on the planet. The day is celebrated in countless ways, with everything from beach clean-ups and tree planting to calling on staff and partners to get involved and do their bit. It is also a great moment to show your contribution to society. We need your support to make this World Environment Day a success! Why celebrate World Environment Day? 1 Make an impact: We can all play our part in reducing plastic pollution. Why not use the day to show how your business or organization will take action to address plastic waste and reduce your plastic footprint? 2 Inspire others: The day is a fantastic opportunity to inspire staff within your business or organization to take action to reduce, reuse and recycle plastic in the workplace and at home. 3 Join the movement: Be part of something bigger this World Environment Day and show how collective actions can have huge results. Register your event on the World Environment Day website so that we can share your activities with the global World Environment Day community. Principles to help you plan your event Dream up an idea: Bring together staff and management in your workplace to brainstorm ideas and activities that could make a difference. What collective impact could your workplace have to solve plastic pollution? Is there a related issue that your business or organization would benefit from learning about? Have fun: Make your event for World Environment Day fun, inspiring and interesting. You should be excited by the idea you have! Surprise yourself: Often we think about what we can t do Think about what you can do and come with optimism! Encourage others: A great idea will naturally attract others who can help bring the idea to life. Use your influence and networks to bring others on board. How to participate Take a look at the following ideas and see how you can make a difference. 1 Take part in the worldwide #BeatPlasticPollution game of tag on social media In the build-up to 5 June, we want to get people around the world sharing with their friends, families and colleagues what they are doing to change their single-use plastic habits. Join the global #BeatPlasticPollution game of tag: Invite staff and colleagues to take a selfie with their canvas shopping bag, metal straw or any other reusable product and tag five friends, telling them to do the same. The person tagged should post a photo with their reusable item within 24 hours. Challenge other organizations to join you in cleaning the planet: Announce that your business or organization is cleaning up plastic litter in a park or public space for World Environment Day. Tag other businesses or organizations you work with, challenging them to do the same. Post a video of the head of your organization with their favourite reusable coffee cup and tag other senior figures to join them in taking action to curb disposable plastic waste. Encourage another business or organization to make a plastic-reduction pledge: Make a commitment to reduce your business or organization s use of disposable plastic and tag another, challenging them to do the same.

4 Spread the game of tag: Post a photo of your staff bringing their reusable food containers to the office every day and tag other colleagues, challenging them to do the same. When you post about World Environment Day on social media, make sure to use the #WorldEnvironmentDay and #BeatPlasticPollution hashtags and 2 Carry out a plastic audit The only way we will really begin to address this issue is to deal with it upstream and reduce the amount of single-use plastic designed into everyday products. To help #BeatPlasticPollution, make a plan thinking through the following steps: How much disposable plastic do you use: When you begin to calculate how much plastic waste your workplace creates, you may be surprised at the quantity. Work with colleagues to assess whether you need the plastic containers in the canteen, plastic cups by the water coolers and plastic bottles for meetings to understand how much disposable plastic you use. Set a target: Once you know your plastic footprint, set a vision to shrink it and quantify it in a way that people can understand (e.g. in truckloads) so you can work to reduce it over time. Get staff excited: Let staff know what you are planning to do and ask them for their ideas about what they would add to the plan. With their input, your chances of success are even higher. Raise awareness far and wide: Share materials with staff internally and on your website to show your plans and commitments. If you are doing work that merits media attention, get in touch with journalists to show with them what you are doing. Finally, remember to use the hashtag #BeatPlasticPollution. 3 For 5 June, World Environment Day: clean up the world Choose an area to clean up: For World Environment Day, we are inviting all our partners to mobilize their networks to participate in a clean-up and find out where the waste is coming from. This could be along a river, on a beach or in an area near your workplace that is littered with plastic. While clean-ups may only address the plastic issue at the end of its life cycle, they are a great way for people to see the extent of plastic waste first-hand and rethink their behaviour. Tips to get you started Identify your area and register it: With colleagues, see if there is an area that you want to clean up. You could contact your local environment authorities to identify spaces or locations that are in greatest need of support. Once you know where you will be doing the clean-up, register your area on the World Environment Day website. You may find that others have activities under way in your area suggest teaming up with them! Get your team on board: Set a date for the clean-up it could be during a lunch hour over the course of a week or a morning the weekend before 5 June. Invite your staff, partners, suppliers and neighbouring businesses and organizations to get involved in the clean-up. The more the merrier! Download the app: This year, we are working with Litterati to track the plastic waste that gets collected. Download the app at and register what you collect so that it is included in the global total. Get the kit you need: Whether this is gloves, bags, neon vests or litter pickers, get the materials you need to go and collect plastic waste. Check whether a business or organization will cover the cost for materials or ask people to chip in on the day. You may also need drinks and refreshments to keep your team going. Sort the waste: Organize the waste you collect by type and have a plan for how it can be recycled. Invite the media, politicians, other businesses and organizations: Get the local media involved to cover your clean-up and identify an inspiring spokesperson who can explain what you are hoping to achieve. Why not also ask politicians and local bottling companies to come along so they can get involved and understand what more needs to be done? Take a photo and share it with us on social media: Let us know how you got on share a photo of your collection efforts, telling us what type of waste you collected and how much it weighed. When you post about World Environment Day on social media, make sure to use the #WorldEnvironmentDay and #BeatPlasticPollution hashtags and unenvironment. Leave a legacy: Once you have finished the clean-up, why not leave a sign that lets people know the area was declared plastic-waste free for World Environment Day? This way, we can hopefully keep it this way and turn the tide on plastic!

What to do next To help spread the word about World

toolkit and use the available social media materials on

Here you will be able to: 1 Register your activity: If you

all the logos, social media assets and more.

the Clean Seas website: To address the crisis facing our

5 What to do next To help spread the word about World Environment Day, we encourage you to download the brand toolkit and use the available social media materials on the World Environment Day website. Here you will be able to: 1 Register your activity: If you register, we can then promote your work on all our digital platforms. 2 Download materials: These include the brand toolkit with all the logos, social media assets and more. 3 Find out more on this issue of marine plastic litter at the Clean Seas website: To address the crisis facing our oceans, UN Environment launched the #CleanSeas campaign, which has already seen over 40 governments commit to act on this issue and 70,000 individual actions.

Contacts: Register your event on worldenvironmentday@un.

HQ Joyce Sang joyce.sang@un.org Africa Mohamed Atani mohamed.atani@un.

fuller@un.org Europe Alejandro Laguna alejandro.laguna@un.org West Asia Melanie Hutchinson melanie.

6 Contacts: Register your event on or get in touch with specific colleagues running the regional plans for the day: UN Environnent HQ Joyce Sang Africa Mohamed Atani Latin America Maria Amparo Lasso North America Laura Fuller Europe Alejandro Laguna West Asia Melanie Hutchinson Asia Pacific Isabelle Louis #worldenvironmentday

A Guide for Government Partners Looking to Celebrate

A Guide for Government Partners Looking to Celebrate World Environment Day 5 June 2018 Beat Plastic Pollution If you can t reuse it, refuse it #BeatPlasticPollution Introduction Plastic pollution is one