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Amy and Ella Meek learnt about the UN Sustainable Development Goal, ‘Responsible Consumption and Production,’ while studying for a project. Seeing pictures of turtles with straws stuck up their noses and fish trapped inside plastic bags made the girls feel shocked and saddened. They wanted to act and started collecting plastic wherever they went, with the aim of collecting 100,000 pieces of plastic.
But the girls soon realised the world has too much plastic pollution to pick it all up themselves. In order to collect as much plastic as possible, they were going to need a bigger team! This led Amy and Ella to start the organisation ‘Kids Against Plastic’ and the ‘Kids Against Plastic Club,’ which is still growing today. Members of the Kids Against Plastic (KAP) Club are invited to meet with Amy, Ella and other KAP club members on Zoom every other week to discuss key issues related to plastic. These meetings inspire members to collect plastic pollution and become plastic clever.
But even though Kids Against Plastic was founded by two kids, Amy and Ella wanted to get adults involved too! They have travelled around Britain speaking to people working in schools, businesses, councils, (and anyone else who would listen!) about not buying single use plastics. They have made petitions, such as one asking Tesco to start selling non-plastic bottled water (like water in aluminium cans) that received 13,455 signatures. They have delivered their own TED Talk. And they have even written a book! The result: many of these organisations agreed to replace their single use plastics with other alternatives!
Amy and Ella continue to encourage everyone to get involved and their efforts are certainly not going unnoticed. In November 2021, Amy and Ella became the first winners of the Pride of Britain Green Champion award.
They remind young people that, ‘Making a difference doesn’t necessarily mean doing something radical or drastic…just some small changes in your everyday life can have a massive impact.’
