UN seeks to reduce plastic disposal in Brazil rivers and seas

Reducing sea trash is the goal of a new UN campaign dubbed Clean Seas (Mares Limpos in the original), unveiled today (Jun 6) in Rio de Janeiro. The initiative aims to convince people and companies to cut down their consumption of plastic as well as their disposal.

The plan was launched at AquaRio, South America's largest sea aquarium, located in the city's new port area.

Denise Hamú, UN Environment representative for Brazil, said the campaign is to last five years and that it should be supported by both government agencies and Brazilian NGOs. “We know how big Brazil is. It's a number one country for biodiversity, with a huge coastline,” she noted.

Corporations

Among the goals of the campaign is to promote the collaboration of corporations to replace or reduce the use of plastic in their products. “We can't just work on the consequences. We have to aim for the cause. Of course it's not the companies who throw their products into [the sea], it's the users, but there must be a partnership throughout the production cycle. If we just clean up the beaches, they'll be dirty again tomorrow,” Hamú said.

The talks held by the UN with corporations in a bid to have them replace plastic with biodegradable fuels are already in progress, along with efforts to ascertain which sectors can contribute to the initiative the most. “We notice that the cosmetics sector is of particular interest, we can work a lot there,” she went on to say.

As part of the strategy aimed at keeping corporations educated and aware about the topic, the initiative plans to hold local seminars to determine how and what habits should change, in order to reduce the population's waste disposal.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira