‘Reuse’ and ‘recycle’ – these two words are more important than ever on the 18th of March, the official World Recycling Day. This yearly celebration is all about getting people to waste as little as possible, reuse whenever possible, and about encouraging world leaders to work together to recycle more.
This day was established in 2018 and mainly focuses on plastic waste. Plastics are incredibly useful and they’re present in our everyday life in lots of different ways. Nonetheless they can create a problem once they've been used and thrown away, because they don't break down or rot in the same way natural materials do, so the pieces get smaller and smaller but last for a very long time. Experts state that 14 million tonnes of plastic end up in the oceans every year, which can harm sea life and the environment but can be prevented by reusing and recycling plastics.
The European Commission has adopted a European strategy for plastics as part of its Circular Economy Action Plan. The goal of this plastics strategy is to protect our environment by minimising marine litter and greenhouse gas emissions while also reducing our dependency on imported fossil fuels.
Find out more in these sections of the Speech Repository on sustainable development and the environment.