​ Please watch the Ted Talk by David Katz, founder and CEO of The Plastic Bank, the world’s only organization to monetize plastic waste and provide an opportunity for the worlds disadvantaged to collect and trade plastic waste as a currency.
 
The Fair Earth Foundation and AWdF are collaborating with The Plastic Bank. The Plastic Bank is a global organisation. It is fighting to end plastic pollution and its devastating impact on the marine environment in particular.
 
Central to its mission is the critical argument that the first thing that needs doing is to cut off the supply of plastic entering our oceans. (if a bathtub is overflowing, the first thing you do is not mop up the water but to turn the tap off). The vast majority of plastic entering our oceans is in the developing world and one of the key drivers is poverty. What we do in the developed world is important- reuse and recycling, finding substitutes to plastic etc BUT it does not touch the core problem in a global and therefore meaningful way.
 
Plastic Neutrality is a practical solution. We can change our habits in the way we use plastic BUT to affect real change we need to find ways to finance stemming the flow of plastic pollution in the third world. We can ‘buy’ plastic neutrality by donating a modest sum of money to the Plastic Bank; this calculation is based on the average annual consumption of plastic in the West by individuals.

The Plastic Bank uses this money to fund poor people in developing countries to collect plastic before it enters the oceans as pollution. They are paid for this work and this helps take them out of poverty so tackling both the problem and its cause!
 
As an individual you receive a certificate of Plastic Neutrality. The principle can be applied to families, work places, schools and colleges anywhere! 

​This elegant solution actually works towards solving the problem in a practical way. It is something we can all support.