The Great Global Cleanup
World Environment Day: What’s At Stake, and What’s Next?
June 5, 2025
World Environment Day is here, marked every June 5th, and once again, the global theme is Beat Plastic Pollution. At EARTHDAY.ORG, this fight is nothing new—our 2024 Earth Day theme was Planet vs. Plastics, but we’ve been confronting this issue head-on for years. Today offers another chance for all of us to pause, take stock, and explore how we can all be part of the solution.
Plastic, microplastics, and toxic plastic chemicals have dominated environmental and health conversations in recent years—and for good reason. As we highlighted in our 2023 report, Babies Vs Plastics, and repeated time and again in 2024, the health impacts of plastic pollution are devastating and all too real. The chemicals used in plastic production are increasingly linked to cancer, developmental disorders, fertility problems, and even dementia. Every day, it seems, new research emerges about plastic’s effects on our bodies such as lower sperm counts, malformed genitals, and even childhood obesity.
Each year, more than 400 million tonnes of plastic are produced globally. Shockingly, half of that is single-use plastic, destined to pollute the planet—often without ever reaching a landfill. As someone who literally picks up trash for a living, I can tell you firsthand: most of what ends up on our streets, beaches, and green spaces is single-use plastics that never stood a chance of getting recycled.
Recycling doesn’t work—it’s often contaminated, and even when it’s successful, plastic can only be recycled once or twice before degrading. Worse still, the recycling process itself releases massive amounts of microplastics, both from the recycling plants and the recycled plastic material they produce.
The next option is landfilling, where it will either pile up almost indefinitely or get shipped to another country, where it will also just pile up indefinitely. And worst of all, the plastic might be incinerated—polluting the air and harming our lungs in the process.
Beating plastic pollution is a herculean task—but it’s absolutely essential. The theme for this year’s World Environment Day was set by the UNEP back in 2023, with the expectation that the Global Plastics Treaty would be finalized and signed by now. The final negotiations were meant to happen in Busan, South Korea, but after negotiators failed to reach a consensus on key issues, a sixth negotiation, called INC5.2, was scheduled for later this year in Switzerland.
Several countries, including Saudi Arabia, Russia, and China, have pushed back against limits on plastic production and restrictions on harmful chemicals, slowing any meaningful progress. But the stakes are too high for delay. When negotiators meet again in August, they must deliver a strong, legally binding agreement that protects both people and the planet—or risk another failed environmental treaty.
Let’s be honest: international negotiations are faltering, and governments continue to walk back crucial environmental promises. So, on this World Environment Day, how are we, as individuals and communities, supposed to take action against plastic pollution, climate change, and the other crises threatening our planet and our health?
What Can We Actively Do?
Luckily, EARTHDAY.ORG has an answer.
Our theme for 2025 is Our Power, Our Planet, where we focus on the power that individuals and communities have to shape the world they want to see. The responsibility of fighting for clean air, clean water, and a livable future has once again landed on everyday people, just as it did 55 years ago when 20 million Americans marched across the country during the very first Earth Day. That worked exceptionally well. It led to the creation of the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and launched the modern environmental movement as we know it today.
A lesson we relearn every year is this: we, as individuals, communities, cities, and a global movement, have the agency to create lasting change. Our power doesn’t depend on political will at the international or national levels. And that power is more important now than ever.
Here is what you can do to get involved in this World Environment Day to Beat Plastic Pollution.
Firstly, Join The Great Global Cleanup. The Great Global Cleanup is our flagship campaign, mobilizing people around the world to remove trash and plastic pollution from their communities and work toward a waste-free world. This year, we had over 4,000 cleanups happening worldwide, removing over 7 million pounds of plastic and trash from the environment. Click here to learn how to organize a cleanup in your community, and explore our Underserved Community Cleanups to see how cleanups can drive lasting environmental and social impact.
Secondly, tell leaders what you think: Click Here to support the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act, or Sign the Global Plastics Petition, calling on a highly ambitious Treaty.
Thirdly, share the truth about plastics – with local leaders, neighbors, friends, or family. Here are some helpful resources to get you started: Read our Babies vs Plastics Report to learn more about the health impacts of plastic and its impact on our little ones.
See our Pets vs Plastics Report to find out more about plastic and its impact on our best friends. Learn more about the Health Impacts of Plastic Pollution with our fact sheets. Check out our End Plastics Campaign and discover more ways to get involved.
World Environment Day may only come once a year, but the fight it represents is ongoing. This is a fight for our health, our planet, and our future. We can’t afford to wait for treaties. The responsibility—and the opportunity—to act is already ours.
