Have you ever heard the expression – it’s just one straw? Imagine 8 billion people saying this at once? 91% of plastic waste isn’t recycled. And since most plastics don’t biodegrade in any meaningful sense, all that plastic waste could exist for hundreds or even thousands of years. In 2018, 5 trillion plastic bags were used by humans. Less than 1% of plastic bags is recycled. We are becoming a Plastic Planet. And do we have a planet B? 1 million plastic bottles are bought every minute around the world — and that number will top half a trillion by 2021. Less than half of those bottles end up getting recycled. These are devastating facts that should make us all think and act – ASAP! The youth exchange “Plastic Planet – NO!” will allow 35 youngsters from Croatia, Macedonia, Portugal, Turkey and Romania to work together, exchange ideas and best practices and broaden their knowledge in the area of environmental protection with focus on plastic production and usage, ways to reduce them and ways to fight against becoming the plastic planet. The idea is to give youngsters the opportunity to hear and learn about the impact that plastic usage is having on environment, to seek for alternative solutions, to learn about recycling, reusing and reducing. The objectives of the project are: - to broaden the knowledge of 35 youngsters on the topic plastic, negative impact of plastic, and ways to reduce usage of plastic products; - to enrich knowledge of young people on the topic of environmental protection and sustainable development with the accent on reducing, reusing and recycling and raise their awareness related to this concept; - to create an artistic sculpture from plastic bottles that sends young people’s messages aiming at reducing plastics and place the sculpture in the local town center; - to organize and implement 2 local actions in the local town (1 cleaning action for collecting plastics and one “donate your plastic” event); - to implement one month social media campaign aiming at raising awareness about plastic pollution; - to allow space for promotion of Cultural diversity and develop young people’s awareness and acceptance of diversity in Europe. Youth comprise nearly 30% of the world's population. The involvement of youth in protecting the environment is crucial for securing bright future for our generations to come. The project will motivate youth to think more about their impact on environment, to recognize the consequences of our actions and will allow them space to seek for solutions for climate change. Plastic pollution is one of the biggest problems we face when it comes to environment, and this is only because of our consumption and our usage of plastic in almost every minute of the day.