Littering is one of the most significant environmental and social challenges faced today. Young people need to know about the impacts of littering as plastic is present in every product bought. This activity will help young people understand how litter contributes to the problem of plastic pollution. The participants must be shown a short film about littering and the impact of plastic pollution, mainly on wildlife and marine organisms. They should also be briefed about how littering contributes to plastic pollution.
- The facilitator should facilitate a discussion with young people about the problems associated with littering and how it leads to plastic pollution.
- The participants should then be asked to monitor the littering behaviour of people. They could choose to monitor littering on roads, in commercial places, open places, parks, or in schools.
- The participants select a suitable spot that might have a littering problem.
- The facilitator should guide the participants to “observe people’s littering behaviour” at that spot. Some indicators for observation could include the following:
- Are there waste bins in this spot?
- Whether people throw waste in the waste bins?
- The type of material littered most frequently?
- Was the littered material consumed by any animal?
- Following this, participants should track how littering leads to a set of problems which ultimately contribute to polluting the land, water and atmosphere.
- Based on their observations and background research, the participants should write their views in the form of an essay depicting the correlation between littering and plastic pollution.
- The participants will be able to co-relate how littering behaviour contributes to the problem of plastic pollution. Discuss the impacts of littering.
