ten year old lilly has picked up ten thousands of pieces of plastic. And she’s only just started

“Plastic pollution hurts the earth,” Lilly says while she picks up a piece of trash. “Bottles, cans, wrappers: they’re everywhere. And eventually they’ll end up in the ocean, animals and people.”

Lilly’s Plastic PickUp

Together with MaatschapWij, BrightVibes is making a series on plastic. Wherein exactly lies the problem? And how can we solve this? This week: ten year old Lilly, who’s been picking up plastic daily for the past three years with her initiative Lilly’s Plastic Pickup.

It’s almost unbelievable how much young Lilly – who’s been cleaning up plastic waste since she was seven – knows about the plastic waste problem. She explains in great detail how all straws, bags and caps we see on the grond will eventually become part of the ever increasing plastic soup. "They even found plastic in the Mariana Trench. That’s the deepest place on earth!"

There’s always something you can do

Whereas many adults get discouraged by the size of the problem, Lilly is determined to make a difference. According to the young plastic hero, every piece of trash you pick up, counts.

"Turtles, fish and birds think that plastic is food. They eat it, they think they’re full and they starve. By picking up plastic, we can save these animals."

Plastic fish

But according to Lilly, it’s not exactly a luxury for us humans either to get to work on a solution. "All the plastic that was ever made, is still on this earth, just not in its original form. They’ve become micro- and nano-plastics. And those tiny pieces of plastic enter our body through our food."

"It would be brilliant if everyone would clean up one piece of plastic. That would make me só happy."

For everyone who wants to support Lilly’s mission, she’s come up with a simple three-step plan. "One: see it. Two: pick it up. Three: throw it in the bin." That’s how easy it can be sometimes.

Want to see in action?

Watch the video we made with Maatschapwij about her.

Next time

In the next episode we’ll talk with the Plastic Soup Foundation about what we can do to keep our body plastic free. Follow us on facebook or subscribe to our newsletter to not miss a thing! 

Article by Nadine Maarhuis (MaatschapWij)