(00:01):
Well, I'm in over my head, no one told me trying to keep my footprint small was harder than I thought it could be. I'm in over my head. What do I really need? Trying to save the planet oh will someone please save me? Trying to save the planet oh will someone please save me?

(00:25):
Welcome to uni over my head. I'm Michael Bartz. Well, this is another edition of planet-saving superstars, where I talk to everyday people who are doing amazing environmental work. My guest today is Amy meek. Co-Founder of kids against plastic. Let's meet her. Welcome to you over my head, Amy,

(00:41):
Thank you so much for having me.

(00:43):
So you are the co-founder of kids against plastic. You co-founded this with your sister. What is kids against plastic?

(00:50):
Kids against plastic is an environmental and educational charity, which is trying to tackle the very massive and broad issue of plastic pollution, but mainly focusing on the ways that individuals, schools, and young people, especially can get involved and take their first steps to tackle this massive problem, because I think sometimes environmental issues, especially plastic can seem quite overwhelming and quite out of our hands. So what our charity tries to do is bring it back and show what everyone can do to make a really important impact against this big issue.

(01:20):
Yeah. And you could feel in over your head just like I feel sometimes. Absolutely. Right. And, and now it is called kids against plastic and it is run by young people for young people and you are 18 and, and your sister's a bit younger than you. And you started this work when you were 12 years old. Tell me about that.

(01:37):
Yeah. Kids against plastic began not as a charity back then. It was just a very, very small youth social action project slash campaign that my sister and I started running after we, it was really after studying the UN sustainable development goals and basically finding out about plastic through them and just being quite shocked at how little information there was on it in the public eye. You know, there weren't as many news articles and documentaries as there are at the moment years later. So we were just quite blown away by the scale of this problem. And also the way that we knew ourselves as individuals, we were contributing to it through the plastic bottles we used and the other plastic items that we consumed in our life. And we thought, if this is the situation for us, then the chances are, this is the same for many, many other ordinary people just like us.

(02:24):
So we just wanted to make a small difference against that. I think we had kind of already had our first taste of activism in a way when I was, I think, eight years old and my sister was six and we ran this small campaign called it stinks, clean it up, basically against dog poo on, on the streets that we live. And that was kind of quite a small but successful campaign that gave us this taste of how even making small changes in your can make a really big difference in the long run. And so I guess, building upon that foundation and what we've learned against plastic, we try to do the same thing as part of kids against plastic. And it's just grown over the last six years.

(03:00):
Yeah. And you, and looking at your website, you've got so many things, you've got resources, things that people can learn. You also have a club, the cap club. Tell me about that.

(03:09):
Yeah. The cap club is a really important part of the charity for us. It's something that's close to our hearts because it's kind of in the name, you know, kids against plastic were obviously very youth-focused and we run the kids against plastic club to really try and engage and support as many young people as possible to really take their first steps against tackling plastic and other environmental issues because there's a loss of eco-anxiety around at the moment, especially for young kids and even, you know, kids of ever younger ages are becoming aware of environmental issues, but actually getting quite anxious and worried about them because they don't feel like they can do anything themselves to tackle it, which obviously we believe isn't the case. And so we run the kids against plastic club of over 220 members now around the world, over 10 different countries.

(03:55):
And these are kids of really such a broad range of ages from about four, five years old, up to 1314. But one of the things that they really share is just the belief that they can make a difference no matter what their age. And we, we really see that in the actions that the kids get up to, whether it's litter picking, whether it's public speaking at such young ages, it's really incredible to see. And we meet with them weekly, via zoom on a Saturday morning, and we run competitions and challenges for them to really help support them and encourage them and show that environmental issues can be scary, but it can be quite fun to actually do something to, to tackle them. And it can be something that you can fit alongside school or alongside friends as well.

(04:36):
Yeah, I, that's so great that you're engaging those young people trying to get them involved in environmentalism. And so with these zoom calls, is it just 200 people on a zoom call or is it kind of you focus on different areas when you're meeting?

(04:49):
I dunno whether say, unfortunately or fortunately we don't get 200 people on one zoom call, although that would be awesome. I think it, you know, young kids are so busy. I never, I don't think I was ever that busy when I was six years old. So we, we don't always get all the members and especially with having different time zones, obviously that makes it a bit trickier, but we do sort of get around, I think, 10 to 20 members on the calls now, which is still really cool to give them a chance to sort of interact, you know, and share their voice part of them. And we've also got some of the club members that are starting to run segments of, of the connect calls, which is what we call them like in Iya, who runs our, knowing me, knowing you segment, where we sort of get to know some of the club members and try and PI a bit so that it feels a bit more of a positive community than a sort of a scary school like zoom meeting, which I think everyone's had enough of during the lockdowns. So just trying, to build that sense of community with these kids and make them feel like they can be comfortable with us and with each other and can actually learn a lot from each other as well, and be inspired by what the other kids are doing.

(05:50):
If young people want to join the club, they can go to your website, I assume. And join there.

(05:55):
Yeah, absolutely. Our websites, just kids against plastic dot code UK. And on there, it should be quite clear how you can join the club and really it's open to any kids with any ages, any interest in the environment, whether you are already a massive warrior, whether you are just thinking, how can I start getting involved in tackling climate change or plastic? It's really something for everyone. You know, we hope that any young person feels like they can get involved and learn something new.

(06:20):
Yeah. That's wonderful. And have you gotten to know some of the young people kind of over the time that you've had the club going?

(06:25):
Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, that's, what's been really nice is we've kind of got our regulars. I don't wanna make it sound like, you know, a bar, but we've got our regular attendees who always come along. Like we've got some members who've been with us since the first connect. Like in IRA mentioned, we've got some kids who've just joined in the last couple of weeks, but it's really nice to see how quickly they all gel together, despite the different locations, despite their different ages. But yeah, I think it's always nice to see a new kid come along to one of the meetings and then stick around and start coming regularly. I think it's hopefully quite reassuring.

(06:57):
So some of your work with the kids against plastic dealt with the UK plastic targets of 2022. Tell me a little bit about that.

(07:04):
Definitely. So the UK government's 2022 plastic target was specifically set for schools in the UK. So it was set back in 2018 and I would then education secretary was called Damien HES. He basically set this target for the UK schools to get them to eliminate necessary single-use plastics from within schools. So basically becoming plastic-free if possible, which obviously is quite an ambitious target, but we thought it was a really positive thing to see because it shows that the government is a trying to do more to tackle plastic waste, which is also good to see, but also acknowledging how important schools are in this fight because not only are they producers of waste themselves, but they also provide an inroad to engage young people from a young age, which obviously is so important when it comes to tackling environmental issues and really having more young people grow up aware and engaged with the planet and how we're harming it, but also what we can do to protect it.

(07:58):
So we were quite encouraged and I guess, you know, it was, it was four years ago. Maybe we were a bit younger and naive to think that just cause the government had set this target meant that they were gonna do loads to make it happen, which obviously, and unfortunately hasn't happened. , it's kind of been one of those targets that has been left and basically been left to schools to do themselves. And if there's one thing we know it's that teachers are very busy and overworked already. And so I think to go to teachers, here's this big goal, but we're not gonna do anything to support you, but we would like you to reach it. It seems a little bit unfair and you know, it's been quite frustrating to speak to government ministers this year, since the target was set and basically here that they haven't got anything planned to do it, to, to help schools to reach it.

(08:40):
And they're basically just leaving it and not renewing it, not encouraging any action towards it, which is very frustrating. So that's why we are not letting that target rest. If the government aren't doing anything to tackle it, then we are going to, so we run our plastic clever schools initiative, which we've been bringing for about four years actually. So since the target was set to help schools to become more plastic clever by not trying to take that massive leap to plastic-free straight away, but instead start to audit their plastic usage, engage the students through activities like litter picking, and then take that all-important step of trying to tackle their top four plastic items from the groundwork that they've already done in previous stages. So it's a really important scheme to us at the moment. One that we've put a lot of time and effort into and we've partnered with another organization called common sea to really make it something that's curriculum-linked, fun, full of resources, something that's really useful and free to teachers to help them fit environmental education and plastics education into the classroom. Even if the government aren't gonna help them do that.

(09:39):
No, that's great that you're taking that initiative and taking that lead even if the government won't. And when you're looking at reducing plastic in schools, is that mostly like in cafeterias or what does that look like?

(09:48):
You know what, it's really interesting actually, because normally, you know, we've deliberately tried to keep the plastic clever scheme to just saying top four items of plastic, because we don't want to go to a school or go to a business or festival and say, these are the four items you've gotta address. They're not really relevant at all. And obviously, it varies a lot by sector, but even within schools, it's been really interesting to hear that some schools have a lot of plastic in the cafeteria, whether it's actually coming from the school itself with how meals or drinks are served or whether it's through what the students are bringing in in lunch boxes. And then there's a task to sort of engage parents and say, look, we're trying to reduce our plastic usage. Can we avoid bringing in lots of plastic-packaged snacks and lunchboxes, but sometimes it even goes to more obscure items like, well, glue sticks, for example, they're made of plastics. Sometimes that's a top plastic item in school or even things like pens. It really varies what school's target and each school are different, but there tend to be some common ones that I think that the cafeteria, as you said, is a pretty large emitter of plastic.

(10:48):
And are you mostly working with elementary schools then or higher-level schools as well?

(10:52):
We're mainly the plastic clever scheme currently is just for primary schools in the UK, which is kids of about five to 11 years old, just because we thought it would be a great place to start the younger, we reach these kids, the more they're gonna grow up and where and engaged. Whereas when you get to teenagehood and you get to my age and then it's really uncool to care about the environment or learn about it. So if we can try and stop that before that happens, then that would be great. But we are currently working on the scheme for secondary students at the moment. So 11 to 16 years old, and that's gonna be coming in the next couple of months, which is exciting.

(11:26):
No, that's great. And so we've talked a bit about the club, but how else could people get involved if they want to reduce their plastic or learn about these things we've been talking about?

(11:34):
Well, I mean, we've got the plastic clever scheme that I mentioned. That's basically winning for lots of sectors like businesses, and council schools, but it's also something we encourage individuals to get involved in, even if it's not a tailored scheme to work through with resources, basically just trying to be more aware and be a bit more plastic clever in your life and try and just target those top four items as a first step, cuz that's one of the first steps that we did, you know, identify our top items and then try and go from there. But I think if you wanna do something more, our website has got loads of different things to get involved in and we've got lots of resources and information. We've also got an app to log to which we use and anyone around the world can use. So there are over a hundred thousand pieces logged on that so far, which you know, is amazing to see all these blue pins appear around the world of people getting involved in that. And we just find it really useful to actually not just do litter pick and kind of get a bit frustrated if that litter gets replaced within a week, which is normally what happens when you go for a litter bit, but actually be able to track how much you collect and see the hotspots and the types of litter collected.

(12:38):
And so overall in your work, do you see an improvement in how we're addressing plastic?

(12:44):
It's a really interesting question. I think in terms of awareness around plastic, which obviously is the foundation for action. There's been a massive amount of change over the years we've been running it. One of the main reasons we started kids against plastic was because of that lack of awareness. And yet now got documentaries coming out in the UK. There was blue planet two that came out, which was a David aver documentary, which was kind of a really massive turning point, surprisingly in awareness of plastic. And so I think to just see how much it's talked about how many targets there are now to tackle it is really encouraging to see. And to be honest, I think it's never gonna be an issue that's sold very quickly because if we start to target one type of plastic, you get new research, come out like plastic being found in the bloodstream now. So I think the urgency is really there to still keep pushing for more and more ambitious targets. And there are definitely some exciting things in the pipeline from governments and example the UN's plastic pack, which we are looking forward to seeing.

(13:42):
Great. Well, that's really interesting. I find this work so inspirational. I'm so glad that you're engaging young people. So thanks so much for coming on the show. Amy, thanks

(13:51):
So much for having me. It's been great to chat.

(13:54):
Well, that was my talk with Amy. I just love how she's engaging young people in environmental work from all over the world. I found that so inspiring and the idea of targeting your top four plastic items because it's gonna be different for everyone and getting rid of all your plastic seems overwhelming. So start with four things. Well, that's all for me. I'm Michael Bartz, here's the feeling a little less in over our head when it comes to saving the planet. We'll see you again. Soon. In Over My Head was produced and hosted by Michael Bartz, original theme song by Gabriel Thaine. If you would like to get in touch with us email info@inovermyheadpodcast.com. special, thanks to Telus STORYHIVE for making this show possible.

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I'm trying to save the planet. Will someone please save me?