Global Recycling Day a huge success

The first-ever Global Recycling Day was celebrated yesterday, on 18th March 2018, at a truly worldwide level.

We are still in the process of compiling facts and figures and will provide a full impact report over the next days-but there is no doubt that year one of Global Recycling Day has definitely surpassed all expectations.  

This is largely due to you – our industry supporters, to Sims Metal Management – our pioneering Founding Sponsor, to ISRI – our first National Association Partner, to Fjällräven – our first Marketing Partner, and to our National Association Supporters BDSV, BMR, BMRA, bvse, FEDEREC, IICA and VDM…

But Global Recycling Day first and foremost happened because of the vision and efforts of BIR President Mr Ranjit Baxi.  Thanks to this, a real movement has been ignited across the world.

It can be witnessed on social media that there were events in Brussels, Delhi, Dubai, Jaipur, Johannesburg, Lagos, London, Mongolia, Mumbai, Nepal, Paris, São Paulo, Sydney, Washington DC (and many more we are still to discover) where thousands of people have become involved with the Seventh Resource message first hand. They have taken part in litter picks, educational programmes, community events, petition signings and more.  Hundreds – if not thousands – of photos and videos have been uploaded and shared on social media.

A huge number of press clippings are coming in from across the world.  In London alone, Mr Baxi was interviewed on Sky News (a five minute live interview), London Live and a four minute feature on the Conservative Party’s video news bulletin (already viewed in excess of 2700 times). There are certainly many more examples across the planet and we look forward to seeing them all.

Our petition continues to gather support - we have over 6730 signatures and have set new goals to hit 7500.  The more we can gather, the greater the impact we can make in having this recognised as an official day in the UN calendar.

Social media also continue to grow – we now have more than 17,000 followers on Twitter and Facebook with  69,000 impressions.  

Some of the biggest brands and names on the planet have joined in - using  #GlobalRecyclingDay to raise awareness of recycling, the circular economy and even create their own mini-campaigns.  This has ensured our message has spread even further.  

Some of their brands are listed below (with their follower numbers alongside). We know there are more!

Dell 689,000 – Nestle Waters HQ 4,300 – UNIDO 65,000 – Change.org 1,500,000 – Veolia 25,000 –  L’Occitane 1,000 – Semarnat 483,000 – OC Florida 32,000 – Greenpeace 1,700,000 –  Suez UK 32,000 –  Sen Tom Carper 78,000 –  Sen John Boozman 61,000 –  Coca-Cola EU Dialogue 835 –  WWF EU 21,000 –  World Nuclear Association 21,000 –  CCHQ 57,000 –  The National 894,000 –  Tetrapak 11,600 – Danone 28,000 –  Anne Hidalgo (Mayor of Paris) 1,400,000 –  C&A Europe 89,000 –  Defra 123,400 –  Fjällräven 158,000