World Environment Day is celebrated every year on the 5th June to raise global awareness to take positive environmental action to protect nature and the planet. It is run by the United Nations Environment Programme. Each World Environment Day is organised around a theme that focuses attention on a particularly pressing environmental concern. The 2023 campaign #BeatPlasticPollution calls for global solutions to combat plastic pollution. This year it is hosted by Côte d’Ivoire in partnership with the Netherlands.
The world is being inundated by plastic. More than 400 million tonnes of plastic is produced every year, half of which is designed to be used only once. Of that, less than 10 per cent is recycled. An estimated 19-23 million tonnes end up in lakes, rivers and seas. Today, plastic clogs our landfills, leaches into the ocean and is combusted into toxic smoke, making it one of the gravest threats to the planet.
World Environment Day 2023 is a reminder that people’s actions on plastic pollution matters. The steps governments and businesses are taking to tackle plastic pollution are the consequence of this action. It is time to drive change and transition to a circular economy.
You can find ways to take action here: Get Solutions (worldenvironmentday.global)
