“I knew that the Just Go Zero project could bring many advantages,” says Emmanoui l Antonios Fotaras, one of 745 residents living on Tilos, a small Greek island located between Rhodes and Kos, “but I didn’t expect its effect would be so powerful.” Now Tilos has become the world’s first zero-waste island.

The changes have been big. Before the project began, the island sent 87 percent of its waste to landfill (垃圾填埋厂); now the project has proved such a success that the island no longer has any rubbish bins and the landfill site has closed completely. In its place is the Centre for Creative Upcycling, where items can either be repaired or reused.

The project was controlled and paid for by Polygreen, a Greek company that specializes in circular economy solutions, but much of their success came through education.

They began by setting up an information center in the port so residents could learn about how to sort their waste. Each household was then given its own zero-waste equipment, including boxes for recyclable and non-recyclable waste and a bag for organic waste. Regular door-to-door collections were then arranged across the island. A smartphone app collected real-time information to show Polygreen how much had been recycled. All waste is taken to the 3K Circular Innovation Centre,which is equipped with high-tech waste handling solutions that can further sort and direct rubbish towards recycling or composting (制成堆肥).

Any visitors to the island have to take part in the project as well. Hotels have special equipment for separating rubbish and tourists can pick up cloth bags for shopping from the Zero Point Information Centre.

“In the beginning, it was tiring,” says Fotaras, “but we all helped each other until we mastered it. I am amazed how old people like the idea of no rubbish and how the project benefits the environment — and that gives me hope and courage to do it.”

Zo Trisha Prinsloo cares about the beaches of Cape Town, South Africa. She leads cleanups there. She set up a group called Save a Fishie years ago! It has picked up plastic bottles, food containers, and other waste. “My main goal is to constantly remove anything and everything I can off our beaches,” she says, “and to try to prevent litter from being taken out to sea.”

Lately, however, Prinsloo has noticed an increase in a certain kind of plastic waste. It’s from PPE (personal protective equipment). Her group Save a Fishie saw eight different kinds of gloves” during a cleanup. I find masks more and more regularly, too,” she said.

People everywhere are wearing PPE to protect themselves from COVID-19. But when PPE isn’t thrown out the right way, it pollutes the environment and endangers wildlife. Each year, at least 8 million tons of plastic enter the world’s oceans. Now this waste includes more PPE. Last year, the Ocean Conservancy led by its chief scientist George Leonard held its annual International Coastal Cleanup. “We’ve found tens of thousands of PPE waste, and more of it is being put into oceans. PPE waste is a significant threat to oceans,” Leonard said. PPE waste can hurt ocean animals that can eat it or get tangled (缠绕) in it. Sue Schwar manages South Essex Wildlife Hospital in the UK. Her team saved a seagull. Its legs got tangled,” she said. Thankfully, the staff was able to untangle the bird and set it free.

PPE will continue to be common until COVID-19 ends, but there’re steps you can take to reduce its environmental impact. Wear clean reusable masks and deal with them carefully before throwing them into rubbish bins to make sure animals won’t get tangled up. Put used PPE in a bin with a safe lid (盖子). This is important when the bin is outside because masks and gloves can be carried away by the wind.

Slat's life began to change after a holiday trip to Greece with his family when he was 16. What he actually saw in the ocean was an awful lot or plastic waste. From that moment on, Slat dived into a project to find a solution to this alarming problem. Struck by the idea of a floating barrier that could collect plastic, he founded his company, The Ocean Cleanup, at the age of 18. Although the idea was named one of the best inventions of 2015 by TIME magazine, he received negative feedback from the specialists in environmental issues.

Slat was not discouraged and saw his mission as a race against time. It is estimated that up to 14 million tons of plastic enter the oceans from land every year. Plastic gradually breaks down into very small pieces called microplastics, which can eventually enter the food chain.

After five and a half years' hard work, the Dutch inventor launched the world's first ocean plastic cleanup system: System 001. The U-shaped pipe, about 609 meters in length, snakes its way out under the Golden Gate Bridge into the Pacific. These floating barriers will capture plastic waste as the ocean currents flow past. Ships will collect the waste and bring it to land for recycling every few months. According to Slat, if all goes to plan, an array of 60 systems could reduce the amount of plastic there by as much as 50 percent by 2025.

However, there remains a problem: What will happen to the plastic brought back to shore from Slat's systems? It's likely that lots of the waste will eventually be recycled into more single-use plastics that end up back in the oceans. That doesn't mean Slat will give up.