Pick Up Litter. If every person picked up just one piece of litter today, there would be over 300 million fewer pieces of litter. If every person picked up 10 pieces of litter, there would be 3 billion fewer pieces damaging our environment.
TAKE ACTION TODAY
- Every time you see a piece of litter when you go for a walk, pick it up and throw it away.
- If you see someone littering, politely ask them to pick it up. Or pick it up yourself and maybe the person who dropped it will see you and get the hint.
- Organise a team of neighbours, friends, co-workers to pick up litter in a specific neighbourhood for an hour. Bring rubber gloves and garbage bags and make it more fun by turning the cleanup effort into a game/ contest.
- Enjoy making a difference, getting exercise, getting to know people better, and having cleaner surroundings.
- Use the #GCBRPlasticChallenge on your social media pages to go viral and make a change.
FACTS
- Million tons of trash is generated each year in the world.
- 20kg of waste is created every day by the average person.
- Common litter includes cigarette butts, plastic bags, paper, candy wrappers, fast-food packaging, bottle caps, glass bottles, and plastic straws.
- Men and women are equally likely to litter.
- People under age 15 are least likely to litter; people under the age of 25 are most likely to litter when in a group; and, people over the age of 25 are most likely to litter when alone.
- Animals from nearly 443 species are entangled in or ingest marine debris annually. The majority of these die from starvation, exhaustion, or infection.
So next time you’re walking through your neighbourhood, or on the beach or anywhere for that matter, pick up that piece of trash (little or big) you see near you and make a small difference that could have an immense impact. It’s a simple concept, a simple step that will help make our home here on earth a better and healthier place.