99% of respondents to our Plastics Challenge Survey told us they supported reducing single-use plastic across the University. This World Environment Day, how can you help Beat Plastic Pollution?

5 June 2018 marks World Environment Day 2018 – raising awareness and promoting action to protect our environment. The theme of this year’s event is Beating Plastic Pollution; the event aims to raise awareness of facts around plastic waste pollution, such as:

• 13 million tonnes of plastic leak into the ocean each year
• Half of all plastic produced is designed to be used just once – and then thrown away
• Only 9% of all plastic waste ever produced has been recycled

To coincide with World Environment Day, we can reveal that 99% of respondents to the University’s recent Plastics Challenge survey supported action to reduce our use of single-use plastics (items such as coffee cups, bottled drinks and other everyday items that we use once and then throw away).

We saw over 3,000 individuals take the survey and share their responses. Thankyou to everyone who engaged with the survey and provided a response. We will be emailing the winners of the KeepCup competition to let them know be the end of today.

We’re also currently analysing the full results of the survey and will use the information provided to inform our action plan. Look out for more information over the coming weeks and months.

In the meantime, you can find out more about how to get involved with World Environment Day by visiting http://worldenvironmentday.global/.

To discover more about the work we are doing to improve our sustainability at the University, visit https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/sustainability/.