What if we competed to be Olympians of Anti-Pollution?
The world gathers for the first ever Garbage Olympics!
Paris, France—This week, the whole world is gathered online and in Paris for the first ever hybrid annual Garbage Olympics!
Unlike the traditional Olympic Games, Garbage Olympics teams gather to represent their home cities and towns and vie for the status of Lowest Waste Generation per Capita.
The different “sporting” categories include:
smallest total volume of waste to landfill per capita
biggest decrease in volume of waste to landfill
most effective elimination of single-use plastics
biggest decrease in volume of waste shipped abroad
most effective microplastics solution implementation
best composting program
best local recycling rate
litter elimination excellence
most efficient upstream waste management (manufacturing, packaging, etc.)
best downstream (i.e. consumer) waste solutions
And the top prize: The Most Circular Economy, i.e. Least Waste Generated.
How it works
Cities and towns present their solutions with video reels, and independent third-party fact-checkers prepare reports using drones, GIS and open data sharing agreements.
Data is collated and the top 25 of each category is invited to present their video reels highlighting their local solutions.
The in-person summit is a platform for information and experience sharing, and to facilitate technological transfers for broader global adoption of solutions. Innovative enterprises show off their solutions, and municipal, provincial and national leaders meet to secure a globally networked map of solutions, to enable a truly circular global economy.
Judging panels consist of global waste management experts and youth leaders. In addition: representatives for future generations, and locally significant plants, animals and ecosystems.
On your mark, get set…
The games began today with the LED Torch Relay, which included the likes of Greta Thunberg, Autumn Peltier, Vanessa Nakate, Xiye Bastida, Chappelle Roan and Macklemore.
Mayor Anne Hidalgo swam in the Seine before completing the final leg of the relay, to celebrate Paris’ own efforts at cleaning its iconic river, and modernizing its sewage systems.
May the cleanest town win!
This week’s story was inspired by the work of recent workshop participants at our first in-person, outdoor storytelling workshop with the Humber River Pals earlier this summer.
Get in touch if you’re interested in having us run one for your community or organization!
Reminder
Our Call for Zine submissions is now open until September 25th!
Looking for creative inspiration? Join our free virtual Future Visioning Workshop next Wednesday August 7th to get those creative juices flowing!
hi , thanks for your creative work sharing! i didn't see Chappelle Roan and Macklemore coming as people who'd be in the torch relay :) which got me to look for news on their ecological activism, but i gather many story elements came from teen workshop participants. would be great to learn more of your collaboration methods and your design choices, how you decide what goals are for a story to share and how the narratives are informed by other sources. looking forward to your online workshop this week!