We are citizens of the world, but we don’t always notice what’s around us: the perception of our surroundings doesn’t go deeper than our skin. What’s happening to our environment becomes irrelevant and invisible, making us ignore the signs of incivility: plastic and micro-plastic waste has in fact been invading our beaches and seas for quite a while, putting the ecosystem in serious danger.
In order to involve people in helping reverse the situation, Greenpeace Italy has launched an innovative challenge: it’s called Plastic Radar, a new way to report, i.e. sending images on WhatsApp, plastic waste left abandoned. If you regularly contribute, you will be able to win prizes and receive acknowledgements: from a personal thank you on Greenpeace’s final report to a plastic-free flask.

The environmental organization’s main concern is obviously not the mere communication, but to trigger a sense of responsibility in the person reporting the waste, who’s then invited to properly dispose of it. Besides, the images sent must clearly show the brand of the product, so that companies can also be made aware of the damage their (often not very sustainable) packaging causes.
On Greenpeace’s website you can see a chart of the most commonly found plastic waste: at the top – with 829 instances reported – are bottles, followed by food packaging – with 608. The site also mentions what type of plastic it is (88% disposable and only 12% re-usable).

“Beaches and seabeds – says Giuseppe Ungherese, in charge of Greenpeace Italy’s anti-pollution campaign – are smothered by plastic, this doesn’t mean that we simply have to get used to living with plastic waste, but that we have to bring to everybody’s attention how serious and dangerous for our environment the situation is.”

You can send your images via WhatsApp to the number +39 342 3711267 and see the website Plastic Radar for more info.