World Environment Day 2018: Celebs, politicians lend support to beating plastic pollution this year

The Changing Markets Foundation has released ‘Talking Trash: The Corporate Playbook of False Solution’ report on the world’s worst plastic waste offenders. The report states that the companies involved are actively taking steps to obstruct and undermine legislative solutions aimed at tackling an unprecedented global plastic waste crisis. The Foundation is on a mission to expose irresponsible corporate practices and drive change towards a more sustainable economy. The report focused on companies who actually took the step of announcing the amount of plastic they produce. Let’s take a look at the world’s worst offenders for plastic pollution who are producing metric tonnes of plastic packaging annually as of 2020. (Image: Reuters)

Every year, 5th of June is celebrated as the World Environment Day (WED), a United Nations’ initiative to encourage awareness and action for the protection of our environment. Each WED has a theme and a host country where official celebrations take place. In 2018, the theme is ‘Beat Plastic Pollution’ and the host country is India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be addressing an event marking the WED and visiting an exhibition set up at Rajpath lawns, many celebs and politicians have also joined in.

Greetings on #WorldEnvironmentDay. Together, let us ensure that our future generations live in a clean and green planet, in harmony with nature. pic.twitter.com/HYUNlCCQ2P

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— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 5, 2018

The WED was first held in 1974 and helps countries to focus on environmental issues like marine pollution, global warming, etc., urging people to strive for sustainable consumption.

Many politicians took to Twitter to spread the message of beating the plastic pollution today. The President of India wrote: ‘On World Environment Day, we reaffirm our commitment to a cleaner and sustainable planet. India is hosting the global celebrations this year. And we are obligated to bequeathing a greener and eco-friendly legacy to our children.’

Poonam Mahajan, MP and President of the BJP Yuva Morcha tweeted, ‘If we can't reuse it, refuse to use it! Let's take the oath to beat Plastic Pollution this #WorldEnvironmentDay and make our environment greener & cleaner.’

If we can't reuse it, refuse to use it !
Let's take the oath to beat Plastic Pollution this #WorldEnvironmentDay and make our environment greener & cleaner.

— Poonam Mahajan (@poonam_mahajan) June 5, 2018

Dia Mirza, a celebrity and the UN Environment Goodwill Ambassador, tweeted: Have you joined our Tag Challenge yet? You can #BeatPlasticPollution by sharing a video or photo showing a sustainable alternative you have replaced single-use plastics with and tag three friends to do the same! Don’t forget the #BeatPlasticPollution! #WorldEnvironmentDay.

Many celebrities joined the movement and replaced one daily-use plastic product with a sustainable alternative. The list of celebrities includes Alia Bhatt, Juhi Chawla, Aditi Rao Hydari, Arjun Kapoor and many more.

Tag, I’m it – thanks for tagging me @adriangrenier! I switched to biodegradable sanitary napkins when I realised they are made mostly of plastic!#BeatPlasticPollution with @UNEnvironment for #WorldEnvironmentDay! Hey @sahil_sangha @aliaa08 @JNJCares – Tag, you’re it! pic.twitter.com/gmi8prQERU

— Dia Mirza (@deespeak) May 27, 2018

I hereby challenge, @SrBachchan @AnupamPKher @sachin_rt @KKRiders @sonamakapoor @RajkummarRao @mrsfunnybones @jiteshpillaai @realpreityzinta @Varun_dvn @TheShilpaShetty @AnilKapoor @priyankachopra

I hope you complete the challenge & tag others too