Aimed at encouraging the youth to learn about sustainability through tackling waste, UNESCO launched the Trash Hack campaign. The campaign will promote simple actions young people can take to combat waste in their neighborhoods, homes or even inboxes, depending on safety precautions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Education Stefania Giannini said that the world clean up day is different in 2020 with the pandemic. “The global pandemic will mean World Cleanup Day is very different in 2020, but the message is as important as ever. We need to rethink the impact we have on the planet and learn to live more sustainably. This is the purpose of Education for Sustainable Development,” Giannini said.
The Trash Hack website will also showcase concrete actions that the young people take against waste.
The campaign also features an augmented reality Instagram filter which randomly selects a Trash Hack Pledge for the user to commit to. These easy actions are just the first step of the campaign, which will encourage young people to use that action as an entry point to understanding more about waste, engage further by sharing their own Trash Hacks on social media with #TrashHack and to celebrate what they’ve achieved and learnt using the hashtag, the UNESCIO said in a statement.
Chief of Education for Sustainable Development Section at UNESCO Alexander Leicht said that education for Sustainable Development was about lifelong learning that equips learners head, heart and hands with the skills, knowledge and attitude to achieve all 17 Sustainable Development Goals. “The Trash Hack campaign is an example of how learning about the environment should also occur outside of formal settings,” Leicht said.
