In my previous report, I discussed the issue of plastic pollution in South Korea. To summarize, millions of plastic products produced around the world are accumulating as plastic waste, and South Korea, in particular, has seen trends of increased packaging and disposable products. After China’s announcement that it would not accept plastic imports from countries like South Korea, the South Korean government has tried to build a sustainable model of reducing plastic waste by encouraging recycling and planning to provide more support to recycling centers, given the air and water pollution caused by plastic waste and the accumulation of microplastic in the body. However, feeling that more efforts were needed to directly plastic would cut down on the amount of plastic consumed, I led the Upper School part of a school-wide “No Plastic is Fantastic” campaign, as a student representative of the school committee focused on sustainability and the leader of the Upper School eco-club. 

Our main objective was to raise awareness about how to reduce the consumption of plastic in our daily lives. We did so by publishing an awareness video that had characters (acted by students) learning about the topic from a Plastic Waste Detective, with the slogan “No Plastic is Fantastic.” This was especially popular among the young students and is still played on digital screens around the school, where hundreds of students view them every day. 

Also, after a fundraiser to raise awareness about an NGO called Bye Bye Plastic Bags, which is an organization founded by the Wijsen sisters that promotes youth action towards reducing plastic, we helped promote the installation of water fountains that kept track of how many disposable-plastic-water-bottle-equivalent amounts of water were given out and collected data from the water bottle equivalent readings for each water fountain. Once we collect enough data about water fountain use, our plan is to analyze how much water students and teachers get from the water fountains every day (that otherwise could have been coming from disposable plastic water bottles and present our findings. 

As the culmination of our project, we plan to present what we have learned about plastic in a youth conference later this year, in order to further share our experiences and help motivate other young people to make changes to their daily habits. Yet who knows? By sharing these ideas with the Tunza Eco-Generation community and abroad, our awareness and actions about plastic can extend beyond the project into our everyday lives.