Plogging Club – Nigeria .......A movement inspiring young people across Nigerian campuses to take action for the climate through exercise that combines jogging with picking up litter and recyclables.

Reform Africa – Uganda.......Tackles waste disposal by transforming plastic waste into sustainable, waterproof and durable bags, employing youth to collect the plastic waste, and single mothers who wash and tailor the products.

U-Recycle – Nigeria A youth-led non-profit organisation working to promote a circular economy in Nigeria through reinforcing a sustainable recycling culture, investing time and resources into educating schools and communities about the value of recycling.

Zizo Ezi Foundation – South Africa A non-profit organisation that operates in South Africa in the Eastern Cape and works with school children in rural areas teaching them on the benefits, as well as the do’s and don’ts regarding a clean eco future in South Africa.

Anuya Trivedi, Founder of Greenbuddies – India....read on       https://www.globalrecyclingday.com/global-recycling-foundation-announces-ten-recyclingheroes/

Abuja, Nigeria – Pick That Trash......Pick That Trash, an operational NGO focused on the environment, will be promoting recycling in schools. On 18th March 2025 Pick That Trash will visit the Government Secondary School, Maitama, FCT. Nigeria. Additionally, on 21st March 2025 Pick That Trash will visit Mosquito Village, Dakibiu, Jabi Upstair. FCT. Nigeria. The organisation is also planning clean-up activities to mark Global Recycling Day. Find out more at @pickthattrash.

Bahrain – eBin Company.......On 18th and 19th March 2025, eBin Company in Bahrain is celebrating Global Recycling Day by promoting recycling, sustainable cleaning products and disinfectants, zero waste products, compost solutions and sustainable drinking water solutions. Find out more at: www.instagram.com/ebincompany/

Bath and North East Somerset, UK........Bath and North East Somerset Council is inviting local residents to a series of events on 18th March where people can find out tips and tricks to help save the environment. These talks will take place across libraries in Bath, Keynsham and Midsomer Norton and the Bath Cloth Nappy Library will be on hand to help parents and carers with making the switch from disposables. Find out more at: https://beta.bathnes.gov.uk

Belfast, Northern Ireland – Cap Arts Centre......read on and explore more links    https://www.globalrecyclingday.com/cities-across-the-world-are-preparing-for-global-recycling-day-2025/

Plogging Club – Nigeria .......A movement inspiring young people across Nigerian campuses to take action for the climate through exercise that combines jogging with picking up litter and recyclables.

Reform Africa – Uganda.......Tackles waste disposal by transforming plastic waste into sustainable, waterproof and durable bags, employing youth to collect the plastic waste, and single mothers who wash and tailor the products.

U-Recycle – Nigeria A youth-led non-profit organisation working to promote a circular economy in Nigeria through reinforcing a sustainable recycling culture, investing time and resources into educating schools and communities about the value of recycling.

Zizo Ezi Foundation – South Africa A non-profit organisation that operates in South Africa in the Eastern Cape and works with school children in rural areas teaching them on the benefits, as well as the do’s and don’ts regarding a clean eco future in South Africa.

Anuya Trivedi, Founder of Greenbuddies – India....read on       https://www.globalrecyclingday.com/global-recycling-foundation-announces-ten-recyclingheroes/

Abuja, Nigeria – Pick That Trash......Pick That Trash, an operational NGO focused on the environment, will be promoting recycling in schools. On 18th March 2025 Pick That Trash will visit the Government Secondary School, Maitama, FCT. Nigeria. Additionally, on 21st March 2025 Pick That Trash will visit Mosquito Village, Dakibiu, Jabi Upstair. FCT. Nigeria. The organisation is also planning clean-up activities to mark Global Recycling Day. Find out more at @pickthattrash.

Bahrain – eBin Company.......On 18th and 19th March 2025, eBin Company in Bahrain is celebrating Global Recycling Day by promoting recycling, sustainable cleaning products and disinfectants, zero waste products, compost solutions and sustainable drinking water solutions. Find out more at: www.instagram.com/ebincompany/

Bath and North East Somerset, UK........Bath and North East Somerset Council is inviting local residents to a series of events on 18th March where people can find out tips and tricks to help save the environment. These talks will take place across libraries in Bath, Keynsham and Midsomer Norton and the Bath Cloth Nappy Library will be on hand to help parents and carers with making the switch from disposables. Find out more at: https://beta.bathnes.gov.uk

Belfast, Northern Ireland – Cap Arts Centre......read on and explore more links    https://www.globalrecyclingday.com/cities-across-the-world-are-preparing-for-global-recycling-day-2025/

A ‘Trojan Horse’ for Toxic Chemicals, Regulation of toxic substances has long exempted synthetic chemicals made of large molecules believed too big to escape products to cause harm. A new study shows how dangerous that assumption is. Inside Climate News Liza Gross  March 5, 2025 Five years ago, an international team of scientists compiled the first global inventory of commercially available chemicals with sobering results: they identified three times as many chemicals on the market than previously estimated, driven by the explosive growt h of petrochemical production over the past several decades.  Less than 5 percent of the 350,000 chemicals and mixtures registered for production and use has been tested for safety. And with scant information about the environmental behavior or toxicity of most compounds, it takes academic scientists years to identify their potential risks.  Now, a new peer-reviewed study adds to a growing body of evidence showing the failure of current regulatory approaches to protect environmental and human health.The researchers focused on polymers, very large molecules made of long chains of smaller molecules, which scientists considered too big to leach from products or enter the body’s cells and cause harm. Polymers are exempt from U.S. and European toxics regulations to encourage production of alternatives to chemicals shown to cause harm. In the new study, published Monday in the journal Nature Sustainability, the team found that polymers can not only break down in the environment but also become “substantially more toxic” when they do.

The team focused on polymeric brominated flame retardants, or polyBFRs, which are widely used in electronics to reduce fire risk. They have been marketed as safer alternatives to flame retardants found to pose environmental and health risks.. As one of the very few reports exploring the environmental impacts of polymeric BFRs, our work clearly shows that there are environmental risks associated with these polymers, and their use should be adequately assessed and regulated,” said Da Chen, an environmental chemist at Jinan University in China who led the study. Chen likened polymers to a Trojan horse carrying harmful chemicals inside a seemingly innocuous shell. 

More than 20 years ago, researchers raised concerns about “non-polymeric” brominated flame retardants, substances with simple chemical structures, which were widely used to reduce fire risk in numerous consumer and industrial products, from electronics and TVs to insulating foams and other building materials. At the time, there was little information about the toxicity of the scores of commercially available brominated flame retardants despite their increasing contamination of air, soil and waterways and buildup in people and wildlife species from bald eagles to endangered primates. Since then, independent scientists discovered the non-polymeric brominated flame retardants cause diverse health problems, including reproductive, hormonal and neurodevelopmental damage, reduced IQ and increased risk of dying from cancer.  The polymeric versions emerged to replace brominated flame retardants that had been banned or phased out in the wake of a wealth of research on their ubiquity and toxicity.  Noting that production of polyBRFs will likely continue to expand as the simpler versions are regulated, Chen and his colleague sought to test the claim that they are unlikely to pose risks. The team collected environmental samples from electronic waste recycling facilities in South China, and from homes and outdoor environments within about a mile and at distances of more than 30 miles away. To determine whether the polyBFRs broke down into smaller molecules, they developed a new screening method to analyze the soil, dust and air samples they collected as well as what remained after they subjected the polymers to laboratory treatments designed to simulate real-world conditions that might cause them to degrade in the environment. 

In the new study, published Monday in the journal Nature Sustainability, the team found that polymers can not only break down in the environment but also become “substantially more toxic” when they do. The team focused on polymeric brominated flame retardants, or polyBFRs, which are widely used in electronics to reduce fire risk. They have been marketed as safer alternatives to flame retardants found to pose environmental and health risks. “As one of the very few reports exploring the environmental impacts of polymeric BFRs, our work clearly shows that there are environmental risks associated with these polymers, and their use should be adequately assessed and regulated,” said Da Chen, an environmental chemist at Jinan University in China who led the study. Chen likened polymers to a Trojan horse carrying harmful chemicals inside a seemingly innocuous shell.

More than 20 years ago, researchers raised concerns about “non-polymeric” brominated flame retardants, substances with simple chemical structures, which were widely used to reduce fire risk in numerous consumer and industrial products, from electronics and TVs to insulating foams and other building materials. At the time, there was little information about the toxicity of the scores of commercially available brominated flame retardants despite their increasing contamination of air, soil and waterways and buildup in people and wildlife species from bald eagles to endangered primates. Since then, independent scientists discovered the non-polymeric brominated flame retardants cause diverse health problems, including reproductive, hormonal and neurodevelopmental damage, reduced IQ and increased risk of dying from cancer.The polymeric versions emerged to replace brominated flame retardants that had been banned or phased out in the wake of a wealth of research on their ubiquity and toxicity.  Noting that production of polyBRFs will likely continue to expand as the simpler versions are regulated, Chen and his colleague sought to test the claim that they are unlikely to pose risks.......read on              https://insideclimatenews.org/news/05032025/polymeric-brominated-flame-retardants-toxic-chemicals/

‘They lied’: plastics producers deceived the public about recycling, report reveals. Companies knew for decades recycling was not viable but promoted it regardless, Center for Climate Integrity study finds. Guardian Dharna Noor  15 Feb 2024 Plastic producers have known for more than 30 years that recycling is not an economically or technically feasible plastic waste management solution. That has not stopped them from promoting it, according to a new report. “The companies lied,” said Richard Wiles, president of fossil-fuel accountability advocacy group the Center for Climate Integrity (CCI), which published the report. “It’s time to hold them accountable for the damage they’ve caused.” Plastic, which is made from oil and gas, is notoriously difficult to recycle. Doing so requires meticulous sorting, since most of the thousands of chemically distinct varieties of plastic cannot be recycled together. That renders an already pricey process even more expensive. Another challenge: the material degrades each time it is reused, meaning it can generally only be reused once or twice. The industry has known for decades about these existential challenges, but obscured that information in its marketing campaigns, the report shows. The research draws on previous investigations as well as newly revealed internal documents illustrating the extent of this decades-long campaign. Industry insiders over the past several decades have variously referred to plastic recycling as “uneconomical”, said it “cannot be considered a permanent solid waste solution”, and said it “cannot go on indefinitely”, the revelations show. The authors say the evidence demonstrates that oil and petrochemical companies, as well as their trade associations, may have broken laws designed to protect the public from misleading marketing and pollution.

Single-use plastics......In the 1950s, plastic producers came up with an idea to ensure a continually growing market for their products: disposability. “They knew if they focused on single-use [plastics] people would buy and buy and buy,” said Davis Allen, investigative researcher at the CCI and the report’s lead author. At a 1956 industry conference, the Society of the Plastics Industry, a trade group, told producers to focus on “low cost, big volume” and   The Society of Plastics is now known as the Plastics Industry Association. “As is typical, instead of working together towards actual solutions to address plastic waste, groups like CCI choose to level political attacks instead of constructive solutions,” Matt Seaholm, president and CEO of the trade group, said in an emailed response to the report. Over the following decades, the industry told the public that plastics can easily be tossed into landfills or burned in garbage incinerators. But in the 1980s, as municipalities began considering bans on grocery bags and other plastic products, the industry began promoting a new solution: recycling.

Recycling campaigns......The industry has long known that plastics recycling is not economically or practically viable, the report shows. An internal 1986 report from the trade association the Vinyl Institute noted that “recycling cannot be considered a permanent solid waste solution [to plastics], as it merely prolongs the time until an item is disposed of”. In 1989, the founding director of the Vinyl Institute told attendees of a trade conference: “Recycling cannot go on indefinitely, and does not solve the solid waste problem.”.....read on       https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/15/recycling-plastics-producers-report