Sustainable for a year, but how do we do that?

Challenge of the week: We're going to go to the streets

First of all, I want to warn everyone taking part in this week's challenge:

AFTER YOU CAN NEVER NOT SEE IT AGAIN. You will never again step over a candy wrapper, can, bottle, bag or face mask ?? (grrr) ?? and leave it without shame.

With childish amazement we go streetcombing. Looking for the weirdest 'strayies'. You will see extra clearly how much waste gets lost in our streets, ends up in sewers, ditches and rivers and thus contributes to the plastic soup.

You will also look at litter differently. At first glance it may be an annoyance and you think: 'Clean up someone else's mess, yes bye!' This is understandable, because ... most waste is thrown away on purpose (is cleaned up by the municipal cleaning service anyway). It is thrown away, falls out of pockets or blows out of bicycle baskets. And that sometimes happens to you. That's why we turn it around: 'Clean up waste for someone else!' Not out of frustration. You help someone with it. Your grandmother, your neighbors or your friends. How sweet is that!

And you can look at it in many other ways, at litter. With a curious look where it would come from. As a source of inspiration for art. As extra motivation to go outside and take 10,000 steps a day (nice and healthy I say). Or to get in touch with nice people

However you look at litter, this week we are going to make the world a cleaner place. We're going streetcombing. Clean up at least one piece of litter every day. Preferably when you know that someone else is seeing you (monkey see, monkey do). So that we ignite more and more people and lay the foundation for a new, clean habit.

Is there already Track & Trace on litter?

Why?

Litter is not only ugly, it is also a major environmental problem. Much litter that is not cleaned up ends up in the sea via wind and water, where it becomes part of the plastic soup. There it causes extensive damage to fish, birds and other marine animals. They get it in their stomach, get caught in it, or choke on it. In addition, micro-plastics are also included in the tissue of these animals and thus end up on our own plates via the food chain!

We can do something about that! By organising a National Cleanup Day. People flock to rid our cities and nature reserves of litter. Everyone wants to help with that! If you wish, organise a National Clean-up Day in your area and ask your municipality for support in the form of cleaning packages (garbage bags and gloves).

But we want more, because what is one Clean Up Day on an annual basis? Do you also tidy up your own house more often? It's about cleaning up a little bit more often and with a lot more people. This is also known as the Power of One. Do the math: One person, one piece of garbage a day...

In fact, this principle applies to almost all the challenges we are taking on this year. From a clear philosophy: “Change your view of the world and the world has changed. Do you see the future bleak? Do you see problems everywhere and do you feel there is no point in doing anything about it? It's exactly the other way around: What you can do makes all the difference in the world. What you put in positivity in the world may well be the deciding factor that sets a storm of positive change in motion.”

If a quarter of all urban residents (Malaysians) clean up one piece of litter every day, you should be doing your best to find litter after just three days!

Even though your action is as small as a flap of a butterfly's wing, it can cause a hurricane of positive change

Small step

• Take a good look at what you see on the street this week. And feel what it does to you. Are you still passing by? Does it annoy you? Can you look at it differently? Think of a reason why you might not miss it next time?
• Pick up at least one piece of litter every day and choose your moment consciously. And if someone sees you!

Big step

• Get your children, your neighbours, friends and family together and organise a National Clean-up Day. Don't sit still, but ACTION and go thoroughly combing in your area.
• When collecting litter, use the Litterati – Cleaning the Earth app. This allows you to register where which type of waste is located, which provides insight into the nature and origin of litter.
• Use social media (Facebook, Twitter ) and show other people where you have cleaned up. That is super stimulating!
• Turn your found strays into a work of art. Hang or place it in a nice place in your house. As a memento and reminder to look at litter differently from now on.

Get the taste? Then inspire even more people to join. Talk to the municipality to set up a litter brigade in your neighborhood or organize a National Clean-up Day or organize a Clean-up Day through the children's school.

Tips

• If you go streetcombing more often, a waste squeezer may come in handy. Many municipalities can provide these. Inquire at your own municipality.
• Do you have the habit of taking a walk every day? Use this healthy walk to pick up litter at the same time.
• Inspired by art from waste? Here you will find a number of artists to copy the art from. How do you make your own artwork from litter??
• Did you know that in many countries there is a deposit on small plastic bottles and from the end of 2022 also on cans? Does this result in less waste being thrown away? Yes! But of course that doesn't get us rid of all the accidentally lost waste.
• Most nature reserves are also flooded with litter. Estimates range from 50 to 300 million kilograms per year. Due to the slow decomposition times, litter often remains in nature indefinitely.

Reward

• Sustainable: Less waste on the street = Greater reuse of raw materials, less environmental damage and less plastic soup.
• Happiness and social: By cleaning up trash before someone else, you make people happy. And yourself. You will see that you get a lot of compliments along the way and feel better about yourself. After all, you have made a concrete contribution to a better world!
• Healthy: By collecting waste you secretly make a lot of healthy movements. Bending over strengthens your back muscles and maybe this way you can get to your 10,000 steps a day?