In the last ten years humans have produced more plastic than in the whole last century, and 50% of the plastic we use everyday is just used once and thrown away directly afterwards. Worldwide, 500 billion plastic bags are used per year, which means that every single minute, more than 1 million bags are used.

As it takes 500 to 1000 years for plastic to degrade, about 97% of plastics that were ever made still exist now. Plastic in the ocean breaks down into small segments that can end up on every mile of beach throughout the world. There is more micro plastic in the ocean then there are stars in the Milky Way, killing 1 million sea birds and 100000 marine mammals on a yearly basis. According to a research done by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation in January, by 2050 the total amount of plastic waste will be greater than the total number of fish found in our oceans.

We as humans ingest contaminated fish and mammals. Plastic chemicals can be absorbed by the body, 93% of Americans  test positive for BPA (a hormone disrupting chemical present in many plastics). Some of these compounds found in plastic have been found to alter the endocrine system and have other potential human health effects.

Together with BaliFokus  and WEP Nigeria, we carried out a scoping study in Indonesia and Nigeria, to better understand how women and men are impacted differently in their health by persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and hazardous chemicals which can be found in pesticides, industrial chemicals and by-products. These POPs affect human health by increasing cancer, affecting neurodevelopment, causing autism and hyper-activism, metabolic diseases such as obesity and diabetes and reproductive problems. Nigeria, having the largest port of entry of electronic waste in West Africa, is particularly affected by POPs, and Indonesia is equally affected by the chemicals in waste. The population groups that are more likely to be impacted by this are the slum dwellers and waste pickers who not only work but also often live in and around the waste dumpsites. Women and children are estimated to be most exposed because they remain close to their homes and thus are exposed to the smoke of burning waste throughout the day.

We are strongly committed to change this scenario, and challenges everyone to a different challenge for this Lent: 40 days without plastic!

We invite everyone to join this European campaign to raise awareness and help people on how to reduce plastic waste. We will contribute by means of an online campaign which will guide everyone who wants to join on this journey, that might be difficult at first, but which is actually about facilitating people’s lives!

40 days without plastic?! Will you join us? You probably saw the “break up with single use plastic” video on social media? If we continue consuming single use plastic like we are now, then by 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in our oceans. We joined forces with #breakfreefromplastic and took to the streets in the Netherlands yesterday asking people to commit to 40 days without plastic.

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