Our oceans are sinking in plastic! Today, hundreds of thousands of pieces of plastic waste float in every square kilometre of the oceans, claiming the lives of tens of thousands of animals every year. With the idea of counteracting the flood of plastic in the oceans and promoting clean water for people and the environment, we support an important model project of the nature conservation organisation WWF with hej:pure. Through our donation, we are helping to combat the causes of plastic waste. By promoting recycling infrastructures in Southeast Asia, the WWF is specifically working to protect the world’s oceans. Education campaigns for the local population, workshops and training courses ensure greater environmental awareness. In this way, the avoidance of single-use plastic through tourism, the reduction of plastic waste in marine-protected areas as well as the establishment of waste management systems are being promoted.

More information at: www.wwf.de/plastikflut

Over 8 million tonnes of plastic waste end up in the sea every year. Especially in developing countries, the infrastructure for proper disposal is often lacking. This project ensures that less plastic ends up in the sea and is recycled instead by involving the community. In Haiti, Indonesia, Brazil and the Philippines, local residents collect plastic waste from beaches and have the opportunity to exchange this ocean plastic at collection points for money, food, drinking water or school fees.

The drinking water project, also carried out with ClimatePartner, distributes ceramic water filters to low-income families in Uganda. The ceramic filters remove 99.9 per cent of bacteria and thus prevent serious diseases. In this way, the project protects both the health of the people, who otherwise have no access to clean drinking water, as well as the environment: in order to make the available water potable, many families see no other option than to boil it. This produces large CO2 emissions and, depending on the region, ever larger areas are being deforested for the firewood or charcoal needed for boiling.