Plastic pollution is an urgent global issue on the cusp of constituting ‘planetary boundary threat’
Palmy’s Plastic Pollution Challenge (PPPC) was set up in 2019 to understand the scale of plastic pollution going into the Manawatū river via our urban streams and to use this knowledge to improve the health of our local waterways.
The challenge is a collaboration between Manawatū River Source to Sea (an entity of Environment Network Manawatū (ENM)), Massey University's Zero Waste Academy, Rangitāne o Manawatū and Palmerston North City Council. Te Kāuru Eastern Manawatū River Hapū Collective in Dannevirke and RECAP in Ashhurst joined challenges in 2020. A wide range of school children, students, community members, companies, council staff and academics have been involved to date.
The work has been physically challenging and sometimes quite dirty, but also eye-opening and life-enhancing. We hope that new conversations, ideas, behaviours and strategies for improving the situation in our streams, rivers and oceans will continue to emerge from this work.
The River
What's been achieved?
See what we achieved in 2021-2022 here
2021 report here
Watch the video on Plastic Pollution Challenge (PPPC) here
Plastic Challenge Launch Event slides Click here (you will need to enable popups if this link isn't working).
Check out our all our published project posters here.
Reel Earth Environmental Film Festival slides view here
Want to host an event?
See the toolkid here
Advocacy to change
About our writer:
Laurin Benedict is an Intern at Environment Network Manawatu. She is passionate about holistic and sustainable development of the community and the environment. She focuses on Environment conservation and mitigation of social inequalities. She moved from India after finishing her Bachelors of Science in Chemistry, Zoology and Botany and is currently completing her Masters' in Sustainable Development Goals at Massey University, Palmerston North.
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