Thursday, June 5 is World Environment Day (WED). WED is the biggest international day for the environment.
World Environment Day 2025 is focused on beating plastic pollution. Plastics are an important part of the modern world, used in everything from car parts to medical devices.
Since the 1950s, researchers estimate humanity has produced 9.2 billion tonnes of material, some 7 billion tonnes of which have become waste.
A major source of plastic pollution is single-use plastic products, which are not circulated in the economy, overwhelming waste systems and entering the environment.
Some of the most common single-use plastic products are water bottles, dispensing containers, takeaway bags, disposable cutlery, freezer bags and packaging foam.
The world generated an estimated 400 million tonnes of plastic waste last year. This torrent of water and shampoo bottles, dispensing containers, polyester shirts, PVC piping and other plastic products is part and parcel of a plastic pollution crisis that experts say is ravaging ecosystems, exposing people to potentially harmful pollutants and stoking climate change, according to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
The UNEP says countries worldwide are now negotiating an international legally binding agreement to end plastic pollution. Against that backdrop, this year’s World Environment Day will focus on ways to prevent plastic waste from escaping into the environment, such as curbing pollution from single-use plastic products and redesigning plastic products so they last longer.
Collective Preventive Services (CPS) department in the Ministry of Public Health, Social Development and Labor, as part of its annual calendar of awareness activities, is calling on the community to join the global movement to bring about awareness to the ongoing balance among human activity, economic development and nature in the preservation of biodiversity and ecosystem sustainability.
This year’s focus is also in alignment with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015 which provides a blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future.
CPS points out that SDG-3 ‘Good Health and Well-being’ is part of the agenda for the well-being of humanity.
Since 1973, World Environment Day on June 5 has been the biggest international day for the environment. It is led by the United Nations Environment Program and is held annually to raise awareness and generate political momentum around growing environmental concerns, such as toxic chemical pollution, desertification, and global warming.
https://www.sintmaartengov.org/news/Pages/CPS-BeatPlasticPollution.aspx
