Chipping away at our plastic habit, one water bottle at a time.

Oct 6

These in-their-own-words pieces are told to Patricia Lane and co-edited with input from the interviewee for the purpose of brevity.

Ziya Merchant’s multi-school campaign is using plastic water bottles to raise awareness about climate justice.

Inspired by Mireta Strandberg-Salmon's campaigns to end bottled water sales at her own high school and at Simon Fraser University, 17-year-old Ziya founded Phasing Out Plastic Bottles (POPB), which in 2022-23 had 15-plus chapters in schools across British Columbia’s Lower Mainland and the United States. This year, POPB has interest from schools in other parts of the U.S. and throughout Canada.

Ziya Merchant was a recipient of the 2023 Youth Climate Activism Award.
View her video entry

YCAA recipients

Peter Allan

Chipping away at our plastic habit, one water bottle at a time.

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