STEAM education for plastic-free primary schools
News relating to sustainability, environment, policies, campaigns taking place around the world.
Recycling can be complex: Some people are uncertain about how it helps the planet, while others consider it a waste of time, money and energy.
Nonetheless, things have changed in the last years. More and more industries are trying to reduce their wastes and consumer behavior has shifted. Greater emphasis is now on reducing, reusing, and recycling, as people are becoming more conscious of the world’s waste problem.
Yet still, misconceptions remain. This article sheds light on six popular myths.
Plastic Smart Cities is a WWF initiative that supports a no plastic in nature agenda. Since 2018, the initiative has supported cities and coastal centres in taking bold action to stop plastic pollution, with a goal to reduce plastic leakage into nature by 30% in the near term, and achieving no plastics in nature by 2030.
How do they do it?
Explore their growing catalogue of Best Practices to find out.
This user-friendly platform presents a series of concrete steps we can take to have a positive impact for the planet. The process is simple. You choose a step and the level of commitment that works for you. You give yourself a month to try it. Then you track your progress by adding “steps” to the course of this global effort to cut down our CO2 emissions.
Consumer Reports (CR) reveals where most of the plastic you throw away really ends up and explains what to do to limit its environmental harm.
The aricle is USA-focused, but much of its content relates to the plastic insustries, recycling myths and consumer behaviour in general that is why it is relevant to many European countries.
Plastic production has grown exponentially in just a few decades and so did the amount of plastic waste. The EU is already taking measures to reduce plastic waste, but what happens to the waste that is generated despite all efforts? And how can recycling rates be increased? Sadly, less than a third of plastic waste in Europe is recycled.
Find out more facts and figures on plastic waste and its recycling in the EU in this infographic of the European Parliament. Read more.
In 2019 the EU approved a pioneer legislation to curb Single-Use-Plastics (SUPs) that enters to force from 2021.
The so called “SUP Directive” establishes different measures for different SUP products, including bans, market restrictions, labelling & design improvements, awareness raising and Extended Producer Responsibility schemes.
Read more on the EU Directive and a distilled Overview Guide (update 2021) on it.
Free STEM based lesson plans to bring engaging, practical, and eco-friendly content to your curriculum. These active, tech enabled lessons help students learn more about their local environment & possibly even make a lasting impact from the results of their work.
Lesson plans are categorised according to their duration (1 day, 1 week, 1 school year) students’ age, and topic.
The impacts of single-use and take-away mentality depicted in one more survey. Scientists ask for measures at the source to “turn off the tap “of marine litter, rather than mere clean-ups.
Source: The Guardian