Yemisi Izuora.
The Bureau of International Recycling, BIR, is drawing the attention of world leaders on the need to save the environment by making policies that will encourage recycling of wastes from natural resources into reusable commodities.
This campaign is coming ahead of first ever Global Recycling Day scheduled to hold March 18, 2018.
BIR advocates that leaders should put recycling at the top of their 2018 New Year’s resolution list, by committing to seven changes to help save the planet.
The first ever Global Recycling Day is an international initiative, designed by the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) to raise awareness of the need to shift the global perception of what we consider as waste into one of the earth’s most valuable resources.
In the power and energy sector, leaders have been driving better use of natural resources through increased solar, wind and biomass generation as many parts of the world are experiencing the rapid decrease of oil and natural gas reserves.
The Earth has six primary natural resources – water, air, oil, natural gas, coal and minerals – but many are are fast becoming scarce resources.
The Seventh Resource the goods and materials around us which we have a duty to use and reuse can be used time and time again, sometimes indefinitely.
Each and every year, the Seventh Resource (recyclables) saves over 700 million tonnes in CO2 emissions, offsetting all CO2 emissions generated by the aviation industry annually.
BIR, through Global Recycling Day, is asking the world to collectively think Seventh Resource, and to prioritise its use across the planet.
Every person on the planet has a carbon footprint which is contributing to climate change and threatening the future of Earth. In 2016, there was a record surge in C02 levels.
This can only be reduced by re-thinking the way in which waste is disposed.
BIR has created a list of seven concrete commitments it is presenting to world leaders, changes needed to prioritise Seventh Resource, and changes which will be central to Global Recycling Day’s mission.
The commitments include, implementation and strengthening international agreements that promote recycling, and negotiate new ones as needed, support and promote the sustainable trade of recyclable materials to ecologically sound companies across the globe, education from the grass roots up, the public on the critical necessity of recycling and agree to a common language of recycling (same definitions, same messages).
Others include making recycling a community issue, supporting initiatives which help households and businesses provide Seventh Resource materials for repurposing, working with the industry to encourage ‘design for recycling’ in the reuse of materials reducing waste and integrating ‘end-of-life’ functionality at the design stage and supporting innovation, research and initiatives that foster better recycling practices.