Project Commence Plastic Reduction (CPR)
Project Commence Plastic Reduction (CPR) is a youth initiated project under the guidance of Blossom World Society (BWS). It will be a 13-month long event that aims to create the awareness on the harm that plastic or single-use plastic is causing to climate change, the beach and ocean habitat, and most importantly, marine lives.
The problems of plastic wastes has been aggravating over the last decade, where we start to see not just one Pacific Garbage Patch in the ocean, by 5 of them in the other oceans. Turtles, dolphins, whales to fishes and oysters that we eat have been found to be either dying or hurting from the consumption of plastic wastes or with plastic compounds in their bodies. The infamous midway island birds are found to be mistaking colourful, small plastic items as food and not only consuming for themselves, but giving to their young as food. The imaging of young chicks dying from starvation despite feeling full is truly heart-breaking.
In 2016, BWS planned a coastal clean-up to Sungei Buloh Mangrove Reserve, and the sight we saw was absolutely mind-blowing. We would think that such plastic pollution problems would not affect Singapore much, being a small country protected by the Indonesia Islands. We saw an area of the mangrove beach covered by tiny plastic wastes, identified to be either plastic bottle caps, the pink-or-green coloured string from our kopi- takeaways, the everyday grocery bags from the wet markets…… From afar, it was like a normal, and even beautiful mangrove coast lined with fallen leaves and twigs. But once we stepped onto the coasts, it was a destroyed mangrove habitat that endangered the wildlife living in there.
Plastic comes from oil refinery and the process of refining oil gives out many harmful by-products that contributes to climate change. With the increasing reliability on plastic and probably unnecessary use of single-use plastic, one can only know that more harmful bi-products will be emitted back into our atmosphere, contributing to the escalation of climate change.
However, Project CPR acknowledges that plastic products is already almost inseparable in life and therefore, we do not aim to remove all plastic products, but to first start from reducing simple items like plastic straws, plastic utensils, plastic bento boxes or plastic bags. And in order to be willing to reduce such single-use plastic items in life, we have to first educate and raise awareness in the hearts of people the harm we are causing to the Earth, animal lives and ultimately, ourselves. We believe that by seeing the harmful impacts of using single-use plastic can we then willingly make the effort in reducing the consumption of such products. At the same time, alternative products will be introduced to facilitate the transition of lifestyle.
Join us in spreading awareness on the reduction of single-use plastic