UVI’s Virgin Islands Marine Advisory Service has registered with the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to take part in Zero Waste Week 2016. The initiative is a school-driven, week-long campaign to reduce waste on school campuses and within local communities with the intention of moving towards zero waste. As part of the Zero Waste Week campaign, attention is focused on reducing the use of single-use plastic items.
This program is open to anyone to participate in. It begins on March 21 and ends on April 22. Interested groups will select one week during this five week period to take part in or create activities and educational opportunities for people in the community to learn about the negative impacts of plastic pollution.
The campaign is entirely student driven; so while there are some activities suggested, it is up to the creativity of the group/organization to create activities for the week that raise awareness. Progress can be documented on social media by uploading images to your platform of choice along with the hashtag #zerowasteweek. This is important because the average person in the Virgin Islands generates twice as much trash in a day compared to average Americans – between eight to nine pounds in the V.I. versus four pounds in America. With a landfill that is soon about to close, the issue of not having a place to dispose of solid waste is a concern. Raising awareness about this issue is crucial and this event is an attempt to help reduce the production waste, particularity plastic, in the territory. For more information contact Howard Forbes Jr. at howard.forbes@live.uvi.edu.