Nine cities to participate in Global Recycling Day events

London; Paris; Brussels; Sao Paolo; Washington; Sydney; Johannesburg; Delhi, India; and Dubai, United Arab Emirates, are set to celebrate the world’s first Global Recycling Day.

Global Recycling Day is just two weeks away, and cities across the world are announcing their plans to participate in the inaugural event. The initiative from the Brussels-based Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) calls on the world to think of recycling in a new way.  

March 18, 2018, in London, the Global Recycling Day team will showcase the scale of what is possible by using large bundles of recycled materials at a central location.

In France, the Federation of Recycling Enterprises (FEDEREC) will hold a press conference at World Wildlife Fund (WWF) France’s headquarters in Paris to raise awareness of the need to use the world’s Seventh Resource, which the day’s organizers have termed recyclables, Thursday, March 15.

Similar events are scheduled for Capitol Hill in Washington and in Sao Paolo for Global Recycling Day March 16.

In Johannesburg, a public cleanup campaign has been scheduled with the help of the Catholic Diocese and the city of Johannesburg.

At the head office of the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO) in Sydney, more than 50 academics and industry experts will gather to recognize Global Recycling Day and discuss cross-sector collaborations. Both events are taking place ahead of the Global Recycling Day.

These events will encourage individuals to pledge to make at least one change to their recycling habits and ask them to sign BIR’s petition calling for the day to be recognized by the United Nations. To help the message spread and highlight the importance of a global approach to recycling to world leaders, Global Recycling Day T-shirts and Frisbees will be handed out at events across the world. The T-shirts are sustainably sourced and made from organic cotton and, in the spirit of the Day, the Frisbees are made from recycled plastic. The T-shirts and Frisbees can be recycled at the end of their lives.

On social media, the day’s supporters are encouraged to use #GlobalRecyclingDay and to adopt an exclusive Global Recycling Day border for their profile pictures. People also are being invited to share videos and images of recycling actions and celebrations. The aim is to showcase how central recycling is to our daily lives, the BIR says.

BIR President Ranjit Baxi says, “The world’s first Global Recycling Day is a vitally important new date in our global calendar. To truly harness the power of recycling, we must adopt a global approach to its collection, processing and use. It is time we put the planet first and all commit to spend 10 more minutes a day ensuring that materials are disposed of properly. It is a joint responsibility, not one of the few and I look forward to seeing individuals, communities, businesses and leaders joining us and celebrating the day on 18th March.

“Global Recycling Day is also a wakeup call to all of us, wherever we live. We must unite with those involved in the industry—from workers on waste mountains to the world’s largest businesses—to help them to make the best use of what we dispose of, to make recycling easier, inherent even in the design of products and to stop expecting countries to simply accept recyclables which are difficult and  costly to process.”

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