By SHARON KIM, age 8
Mentored by CAROLINE HADILAKSONO
On the Global Citizen website people can sign up and commit to live one day without producing any waste. PHOTO: Justin Ritchie/Flickr
On Earth Day, April 22, 2014, thousands of people in 39 countries signed up to participate in A Day Without Waste Movement to stop millions of “waste items” from entering landfills.
The movement was started by Global Citizen, a website that promotes awareness to different world issues, and Ekocycle, a joint effort between pop star will.i.am and The Coca-Cola Company to promote recycling, to celebrate Earth Day.
They want people to pay attention to the things that they do that create waste. On the Global Citizen website people can sign up and commit to live one day without producing any waste. Those who signed up could get points that to earn tickets to the Global Citizen Concert.
Participants of the movement committed to stop using paper and plastic bags, to-go cups and containers and other wasteful habits. Instead they used cloth bags and glass cups to avoid using plastic.
In a tweet on April 24, Global Citizen said the campaign diverted 1.5 million items from landfills. As Ryan Gall, the co-founder of Global Citizen says, “It is our goal with the #ADayWithoutWaste campaign to bring awareness to the permanent, positive changes people can make each day.”