PLASTIC PUNCH

Created in January 2018 by a group of seven young international advocates, Plastic Punch (PP) aims at promoting circular economy and environmental preservation, particularly marine conservation, to support sustainable development impacting future generations. PP’s objective is also to inspire behavioural change through citizen science and awareness raising towards sustainable waste management practices with emphasis on reducing plastic pollution.

The NGO started its projects in Ghana, home to a rich flora and fauna, and more specifically marine turtles, a highly endangered species that come to its shores on an annual basis to lay their eggs. As evidenced during turtle monitoring sessions conducted by the PP team, the amount of waste on the beaches directly harms the turtles, which have to nest amidst considerable amounts of plastic waste, and can die by ingesting plastic floating in the water.

The distinctive activity of the NGO are the beach cleanups: they are the most direct tool to be used to improve the turtle nesting environment and good sanitation of the beach but also act as an awareness raising strategy towards behavioural change. The educational activities of the NGO are implemented through entertainment (“edutainment”) and there is a strong engagement with the community, as they are the ones directly affected by the cleanliness of their environment.