Where water and land meet – climate change and pollution are already no longer a concept, but a lived reality. Climate Change is maybe most visible at the shorelines of our planet, where unusual highs- and lows, storms, hurricanes, rough waters, receding freshwater resources and increased salinity in fertile lands – change the reality of nature and people.

Additionally, to those challenges – plastic pollutes the oceans, kills the oceans vital ecosystem, and changes the face of coastal cities. Banlastic – an Alexandrian based Egyptian NGO – has committed itself to banning plastic. But until they reach that milestone, in the meantime they organize clean-ups, instigate clean-ups, raise awareness, and teach young people, fishermen, students, industries, policy makers, and anyone walking by, about the dangers of plastic and why we need to “reduce, reuse and recycle”.

The Egyptian Ministry of Youth has youth centers and youth trainers all around the country and are seeking to increase the awareness of their staff and partners.

In a joint effort, CCT and Banlastic visited the Youth Center in Port Said – another endangered coastal city of Egypt – to educate youth trainers on ways to provide knowledge on plastic to youth, as well as decrease the usage of plastic in workshops and events.

Banlastic provided a 12-hour interactive workshop for 45 participants, of age group 18-30 years old. The workshop aimed to introduce different advanced concepts related to plastic. The R&D of this workshop was based on “Plastic in seas and oceans” training manual translated from German to Arabic in a cooperation project between Banlastic Egypt, Alexandria and BildungsCent NGO, Berlin, supported by Goethe Institute of Alexandria. The workshop introduced, among others, the following concepts:

– Evolution of plastic

– Importance of seas in our lives

– Different types of plastic

– Sources of Marine Litter

– Microplastic definition and its different types

– Introducing Bioplastic and discussing debates around it

– Introducing Ghost Fishing and Gear recycling concepts

– What is the product life cycle?

– Introducing circular economy

– Waste management fundamental rules

– Waste management scenario in Alexandria

– Different marine pollution treaties

– CSR and sustainability reporting

– Basics of Environmental law in Egypt.

– Way forward