The village of Kamikatsu in Japan has taken their commitment to sustainability to a new level. While the rest of the country has a recycling rate of around 20 percent, Kamikatsu surpasses its neighbors with a staggering 80 percent. After becoming aware of the dangers of carbon monoxide associated with burning garbage, the town instated the Zero Waste Declaration with the goal of being completely waste-free by 2020.
Soda and soap bottles don’t belong in the sea, but it’s too often where they end up. In fact, experts estimate that an entire garbage truck worth of plastic hits our oceans every minute—the vast majority of it coming from developing nations like Haiti. To alleviate the problem, the Plastic Bank pays people to collect plastic waste that can be recycled and reused. Richardson Gustave oversees the organization’s daily operations around his home city of Port-au-Prince, coordinating transportation and inspection, and ensuring that collectors have the equipment needed to complete this vital task. This is the second story in our latest series, “The Brave,” all about the incredible people protecting our Great Big Planet.
Want to help protect our oceans? Get involved: https://oceanconservancy.org/ Ocean Conservancy is working to protect the ocean from today’s greatest global challenges. With their partners, they create science-based solutions for a healthy ocean and the wildlife and communities that depend on it.
Vocabulary chunks to learn from video :
Faced with one of the biggest challenges
Huge amount of plastic
Make a change
One bottle less
Pays people to collect plastic
Preventing the plastic from going into the ocean
Attack the problem
Dispose of any waste
Alleviating poverty
It dawned on me that I have to make a change
We have to be more responsible
They collect the plastic
In return you get cash or other services for that plastic
