Globally, over a million plastic bottles and plastic bags are purchased every minute. Half of that number are designed for single use, so once you are done with them you just throw them away. It is however polluting the environment creating environmental problems in many cities around the world.
In order to reduce our plastic footprint, we must advocate for new policy standards, new incentives for industry, and new models of innovation for plastic avoidance, use, reuse, and waste management.
This is why the Plastic Smart Cities a WWF initiative, supports a “no plastic in nature” agenda. The initiative has supported cities and coastal centers since 2018, in taking bold action to stop plastic pollution, with a goal to reduce plastic leakage into nature by 30% in Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Mediterranean.
The WWF campaign acknowledges that there is no single solution to plastic pollution hence the need for collective collaboration with a comprehensive strategy with all actors both in private, public, and business sectors.
By engaging all actors (government, businesses, and the public) – we can examine every aspect of the life cycle of any given plastic material, and identify key elements that are ripe for intervention. The Plastic Smart Cities initiative aligns with the 17 SDGs.
WWF commit to advance the mission of the Plastic Smart Cities initiative and to support it by taking ambitious action at a local level, in close collaboration with citizens, civil society, national authorities, international institutions, the private sector, and academic institutions, with a view to achieving no plastics in nature by 2030.
For more information on Plastic Smart Cities click here
