World Environment Day 2025
Thursday 5 June, is the United Nation’s (UN’s) World Environment Day. This year, the UN are illuminating the issue of plastic pollution across the globe.
Every year, more than 8 million tonnes of plastic enter the sea, killing 100,000 marine animals through ingestion, entanglement, and chemical contamination (source: BBC, Plastic Free July). When plastic is ingested by marine life it enters the food chain which is harmful to human health.
The creative industries are active contributors to the plastic pollution crisis. Some of the top offenders include:
- Fashion – Of the 100 billion items of clothing produced each year, nearly 70 billion are made of plastic (Source: Clean Clothes Campaign, Plastic Pollution Coalition). With approximately one truck load of clothes arriving in landfill every second, that’s a lot of plastic waste (source: Ellen MacArthur Foundation).
- Events and Festivals – UK music festivals produce around 23,500 tonnes of waste every year (source: Powerful Thinking). Plastic waste from tents, food packaging and plastic cups accounts for a large proportion of this waste.
As only 10% of plastic waste is recycled in the UK, recycling alone is not enough to solve this plastic problem. Here is what you can do to make a difference:
- Reduce your consumption – only buy what you need. Consider renting or borrowing equipment or resources that you only need for one event.
- Reuse what you have – or see if you can find what you need second hand.
- Refuse non-essential single use plastics like glitter or straws. Bring a re-usable coffee cup and water bottle when you go out.
- Pick up litter in your local environment to protect local wildlife and prevent pollution.
At Artswork we have reworked our Environmental Action Plan to reduce our consumption of new materials and have a stronger focus on working towards a circular economy by renting and sourcing second hand materials.