Pauline Latham is partnering with the international development charity, tearfund, to take part in Tearfund’s Plastic Pledge to reduce her every day single use plastic use.
Tearfund works in over 50 of the world’s poorest countries alongside churches and local organisations helping individuals build a better future.
A big issue in many developing countries is how waste and plastic pollution is having a detrimental impact on people’s lives Globally two billion people don’t have their rubbish collected and this leads to disease and death for people in poverty . Pakistan produces morethan 20 million tonnes of rubbish each year and in cities like Karachi, two fifths remains uncollected. This rubbish is either burnt in the street, thrown into rivers, often ending up in the ocean, or builds up and causes flooding and health problems. The generous funding from the UK government will allow us to transform the daily lives of people living in Karachi and Hyderabad.
Individuals making small changes to their lives in the UK shows we care, that we are aware of the damaging impact of single use plastic and are trying to make a positive change.
Tearfund recently launched a new appeal to help tackle waste and plastic pollution in Pakistan. Until 17 May, donations will be matched by the UK government, up to £2 million. Donations to this appeal will help Tearfund transform lives around the world where the need is greatest. Match funding from the UK government will be used by Tearfund's partners in Pakistan to set up innovative recycling hubs which will improve the lives of people in some of the poorest slum communities.
Pauline said: “I am very pleased to support this Tearfund’s #plasticpledge. I welcome all the great work they do internationally to tackle waste and plastic pollution. Here at home, small changes can make a big difference, therefore I am going to continue to make efforts to significantly decrease my single use plastic use. For example, instead of buying coffee in disposable cups and water bottles, I use reusable ones. I was horrified to learn that in the UK we use 2.5bn disposable coffee cups per year, enough to circle the world 5 times!”
Log onto http://www.tearfund.org/plastic to find out more information about giving up plastic and giving to Tearfund’s Matched Giving Appeal.