WWF's mission is to stop the degradation of the planet's natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature, by:

- conserving the world's biological diversity

- ensuring that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable

- promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption

Today there are no limits on plastic production and it is slowly choking our world - our insatiable and irresponsible appetite for plastic is unstoppable.

The only way to stop it is a Globally Binding Treaty on plastic - the only way to secure that is to generate enough, global public pressure to convince governments to table the treaty at the UN

OBJECTIVES

1: Attitude – KPI: Reach 1.75 billion people, generate 100,000 organic posts.

2: Behaviour - KPI: 1 million supporters, from 50 different countries.

3: Action – KPI: securing 97 of the 193 member nations

Plastic is the wonder material of our age - cheap, versatile, almost indestructible - billions of jobs and businesses rely upon it, he 21st Century is literally built upon it.

Since 1950, 8.3 billion tonnes have been produced and three-quarters of that has quickly become waste. A mere 9% of this waste has been recycled, 12% incinerated and 79% ends up being dumped into the environment.

These billions of tonnes don't go away - they just get smaller and smaller - to the extent that these micro-plastics have polluted every aspect of nature - even us.

And yet production is not regulated

Efforts to reduce are a symbolic distraction and laid at the feet of the consumer - bags and straws - but in reality this is less than 1% of the pollution. The only way to make any meaningful impact is industrial regulation.

INSIGHT - It’s impossible to ignore plastic’s impact on nature when you’re also the creature eating, drinking and breathing the pollution.

IDEA: Your Plastic Diet

Our diets now contain plastic, we are inevitably consuming it, so our bodies are becoming infested with plastic pollution.

By viusalising the data into everyday plastic objects - the shock factor of eating a pen, or coathanger or Credit Card turned the data into a personal, relatable health crisis that inspired action.

Mobilising public action on a global scale was the only way to get the level of support that the lobbying team at WWF needed.

HUMANISING THE TRILLIONS

The University of Newcastle was commissioned to analyse scientific studies about human consumption of microplastics. It found the average person consumes around 100,000 microplastics every year.

QUANTIFYING THE DIET

100,000 microplastics equates to approximately 250 grams of plastic a year. People are therefore ingesting 5 grams of plastic pollution every week.

What plastic object weighs 5 grams and is ubiquitous around the world, with 20 billion of them in use? A credit card.

YOU’RE EATING A CREDIT CARD A WEEK.

This direct and single-minded fact became the centre of gravity for the entire campaign. It made the data RELATABLE and plastic pollution UNFORGETTABLE. It made the plastic problem UNIVERSAL yet PERSONAL – this is a piece of plastic that has people’s name on it, it’s with them every day, this fact turned everyone’s cards into a personalised media channel

Plastic Diet was announced to the world’s media via a press conference at WWF’s Singapore HQ. An 'always on' in-house studio helped repurpose assets for the the WWF offices who used the pro-bono media spaces from media owners.

All activity pushed people to an interactive campaign website. Based on diet and geography, people could take a test to see how much plastic they were likely ingesting a week, compelling them to sign the global petition.

Packs featuring a physical version of the campaigns’ card, along with the massive weight of the public support via the signatures, were used by WWF teams to engage politicians, civil servants and governments in conversations, meetings, summits, and conferences, from the G20 to the UN Environmental Assembly.

ATTITUDE

Result: 4.1bn earned media impact - 234% of target.

BEHAVIOUR

Result: 2.03m demanding action - 200% of target

Plastic Diet became WWF’s largest and fastest growing single public action in its’ 60-year history.

ACTION

Result: 131 governments publicly called for an agreement on plastic pollution – 135% of target.

“More than two-thirds of UN member states have declared they are open to a new agreement to stem the rising tide of plastic waste.” The Guardian.

Plastic Diet’s 2 million supporters have eaten an estimated 791,473,800 grams of plastic and 158,294,760 credit cards since the campaign launched. And the impact on kickstarting fundamental change has so far been enormous. In the words of WWF: “A global, legally binding solution to plastic would simply not have been imaginable prior to the launch of the Plastic Diet campaign.”