Young people around the world join UNESCO to #TrashHack their lives on World Cleanup Day | WPN World People News

UNESCO is launching the Trash Hack campaign to encourage young people to learn about sustainability through tackling waste.

Each year the world generates over 2 billion tonnes of waste. Trash clogs our oceans, fills our streets and litters huge areas of the planet.

Launching for World Cleanup Day on 19 September 2020, the Trash Hack campaign will promote simple actions young people can take to combat waste in their neighborhoods, homes or even inboxes, depending on safety precautions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The global pandemic will mean World Cleanup Day is very different in 2020, but the message is as important as ever,” says UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Education Stefania Giannini. “We need to rethink the impact we have on the planet and learn to live more sustainably. This is the purpose of Education for Sustainable Development.”

The Trash Hack website will provide examples of concrete actions they can take against waste, inspiration from other young people who have Trash Hacked their lives and tips on how to share their passion for sustainability.

In a first for UNESCO, the campaign features an augmented reality Instagram filter which randomly selects a Trash Hack Pledge for the user to commit to – a simple way to tackle waste. These easy actions are just the first step of the campaign, which will encourage young people to use that action as an entry point to understanding more about waste, engage further by sharing their own Trash Hacks on social media with #TrashHack and to celebrate what they’ve achieved and learnt using the hashtag.

Trash Hack is coordinated by UNESCO’s Section of Education for Sustainable Development and education is at the heart of the campaign, which is rooted in project-based learning. Tacking waste is an entry point to a deeper engagement with global waste systems, sustainable consumption and linking issues such as climate change, biodiversity loss and waterways.

“Education for Sustainable Development is about lifelong learning that equips learners head, heart and hands with the skills, knowledge and attitude to achieve all 17 Sustainable Development Goals,” says Alexander Leicht, Chief of Education for Sustainable Development Section at UNESCO. “The Trash Hack campaign is an example of how learning about the environment should also occur outside of formal settings.”

UNESCO will be launching a Trash Hack Action Week for the Associated Schools Network later in the year. The Network’s 11,500 schools in 182 countries will be given the tools to reduce waste in their schools, neighborhoods or homes, depending on local school closures situation, using the play-based learning approach of Education for Sustainable Development.

The Trash Hack campaign and Action Week are supported by the Government of Japan, as part of their commitment to transforming learning through Education for Sustainable Development.

Source: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization