Lazada, an e-commerce giant in Southeast Asia is yet another entity that adopted World Environment Day’s Beat Plastic Pollution theme. The website offered all visitors a list of suggestions that could substitute for single-use plastic items like plastic bags, cups, straws and even diapers.
Lazada’s presence spreads across Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Philippines, making it the most visited site in Southeast Asia. The company has 27 million fans on Facebook, 1.7 million on Instagram, and is one of the top three apps downloaded on the App Store and Google Play.
Beat Plastic Pollution is a social media game from the UN that reportedly beat all expectations. The game encouraged social media participants to commit to eliminating at least one type of single-use plastic and replace it with a sustainable alternative. Players take a selfie or video holding the alternative, share it on social media, and tag three friends. The hashtag #BeatPlasticPollution
Participants tagged friends, celebrities, companies, and politicians, including Arnold Schwarzenegger, who vowed to terminate his use of plastic spoons, and EPA administrator Scott Pruitt.
The UN points out that the world generates 300 million metric tons of plastic waste per year, and that half of all plastics produced are meant for single-use consumption before being thrown away.
Organizations that have announced their commitments to reduce plastic pollution include Reckitt Benckiser, Coke India, Infosys, and Athens International Airport.
An article from Thomson Reuters reports that plastic waste is “spreading to the ends of the Earth,” with news that microplastics and toxic chemicals have been detected in nine of 17 water samples collected in Antarctica by Greenpeace earlier this year.