100 Days to #BeatPlasticPollution for #CleanSeas

Plastic waste is choking our seas and coasts, threatening ecosystems, livelihoods, and lives in South-East Asia. Due to Covid-19, we are now fighting a plastic pandemic of new waste created from ‘new norms’ of plastic consumption such as the use of single-use plastics including personal protective equipment (PPE).

South-East Asia is at the heart of this marine plastic pollution challenge. Six of the top 20 polluters of marine litter are in South-East Asia, making the region a major hotspot of plastic pollution.

We hope to spark a movement led by South-East Asian sustainability advocates to combat the triple threat of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution that the region is facing. ‘100 Days to #BeatPlasticPollution’ will mobilise digitally connected youth to adopt habits that will help turn the tide on the plastic pandemic. Research shows that, on average, it takes 66 days for a new behaviour to become automatic. Through this campaign, people are challenged to choose one simple habit that can be sustained for 100 days, and kept for life, to #BeatPlasticPollution.

By raising awareness and building community around plastic marine litter across the focus countries, the intentions are:

1. To grow public and consumer demand for plastic pollution reduction;
2. To achieve mass public support for strengthening policy and fiscal incentives to reduce virgin plastic use and divert plastic from landfills; and
3. To promote a deep understanding of circular economy principles by encouraging recycling and plastic segregation at the source.

Our target audience is digitally connected youth who are 13-25 years old across South-East Asia – Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Viet Nam.

Overall, the campaign will promote behavioural change among consumers and private-sector corporations, thereby creating an enabling space for policy development. 

100 Days to #BeatPlasticPollution is developed by the SEA circular project (an initiative of UNEP and the Coordinating Body on the Seas of East Asia (COBSEA) and is implemented in partnership with the Clean Seas campaign, to create region-wide awareness on plastic pollution and public support for policies to change plastic value chain management.