Reducing Plastic Litter While Giving Back To The Community

In 2020, the Bimeda Brazil Social Service Committee initiated a great new project which has positive environmental benefits, as well as having a positive impact in their local community.

The committee identified that the plastic caps used on many household products are often not correctly disposed of, leading to pollution in their local community and in waterways. On investigating the root cause of the issue, they learned that failure to dispose of the lids correctly, could be down to a lack of facilities to do so and also a lack of awareness about the optimum way to dispose of used lids.

The committee set up a project which would both address this issue, while simultaneously benefitting the local community.

Educational efforts focused on sharing with employees the negative impact of incorrect disposal.  When disposed of incorrectly, plastic caps often end up in rivers and lakes, increasing the serious environmental issue of plastic in waterways, which is damaging to fish and birds who can ingest these materials. They can also end up in our community’s own streets, polluting the local environment.

The committee informed employees about the correct way to dispose of plastics in their homes, and also invited them to separate out these plastic caps and bringing them to the collection point at Bimeda.

As well as reducing pollution in the local environment, this initiative has benefits for the local community. When a large quantity of plastic caps are collected at Bimeda, they are sold, and the money generated is used to put towards purchasing items such as food baskets, hygiene kits, milk for children and other essential items, which are shared through local outreach initiatives.

A member of the Bimeda Brazil social committee commented, ‘we all use plastic bottles and plastic caps on a regular basis, as these are used for many consumer goods such as drink, food and cosmetics. This means that the campaign is continuous and does not have an ‘end date’. As a result, we can continue, day after day, week after week, to play a role in reducing plastic pollution in our area, and giving back to our local community.’