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The amount of plastic waste accumulating in the Pacific ocean and washing up on even very remote islands has become a serious problem.
David Katz, the CEO of The Plastic Bank, a Canadian plastic-for-currency enterprise, thinks he has the solution. He met with officials at the Vatican last week to seek the Catholic Church’s support.
He envisions programmes where Catholics could bring their plastic waste to church each week and Plastic Bank would offer them something in return.
The Plastic Bank offers goods and services in exchange for discarded plastic, then sells it to manufacturing companies for a profit.
Katz says the meeting was all about “planting a seed” with the Vatican, in hopes of developing a future partnership between his organisation and the Church.
Recently Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Holy See’s Secretary for Relations with States, speaking after a meeting with leaders of Pacific Island nations, stressed the importance of lifestyle changes that are demanded of all of us.
“Whether it’s just giving up using your plastic bags when you go to the supermarket, or modifying some part of your behaviour, recycling or using your car a little less and walking a little more.”
A report published earlier this year revealed that an estimated 38 million pieces of trash washed up on the beaches of Henderson Island. Almost all of it was plastic.
The researchers say the density of trash was the highest recorded anywhere in the world, despite Henderson Island’s extreme remoteness.
Henderson Island is part of the Pitcairn Group and is about halfway between New Zealand and Chile.
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News category: Asia Pacific.
