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Writer's pictureNiamh Clune

Design waste out of the product stream!


We Are the Voice is a united children's voice determined to change the way we use plastic. We know children feel very strongly about this issue and are genuinely upset by images they see of dead whales’ stomachs full of plastic, strangled turtles and seabirds dying in plastic bags. Not enough is being done to prevent this environmental disaster and we feel that children should have a voice in the future they will inherit.


Cleaning up beaches, oceans and rivers after other people is not enough (though, huge thank you's to all those who volunteer and give up their time doing this for the greater good!) and comes at a huge cost to us all. Recycling alone is not the answer either with so many different types of plastic out there. Consumers are often confused and overwhelmed by all the options, do's and don't's. Considering, we have already paid for the plastic that wraps or constitutes our goods, we pay for it all over again to be recycled, sent to Landfill or incineration. The onus is always on us, the consumer. And those of us aware enough to try to live plastic-free find it almost impossible, as the alternatives to plastic are expensive or don’t yet exist. We are literally drowning in the stuff. It is in almost everything, including our minds as part of accepted everyday reality, and our bodies, as it finds its way into our food-chains.


We Are The Voice is a Zero-Waste campaign, advocating TQM (Total Quality Management Control). TQM originates in Japan and is based on the idea that if there is a fault at the end of a production line, it is considered a whole system failure. We want to apply this idea to waste: if it exists at the end of a production line, the whole system has failed. Our aim is to lobby manufacturers to think smart and be responsible for what they produce. We want them to design waste out of their product streams. There are many ways in which they can do this. Waste disposal is currently out-dated, cumbersome, and much too expensive to manage, not only for consumers but for councils also. Waste management as a whole must become simple enough for a two-year old child to execute!





It is our aim to send 1,000,000 virtual postcards to the producers of children's plastic goods. We will do this by launching our national plastic awareness workshops in schools across the country, specifically petitioning the makers of children’s goods to ditch unnecessary plastic wrapping; stop using single-use plastic completely; make children’s toys from safer materials that are recyclable (must be PVC free) and they must take back toys at their end-of-use to be made into new products. Most, go to Landfill.


Our focus is to give children a voice in driving change and innovation - something they want for their future and their planet. To launch our campaign, we have recorded a song, We Are the Voice, a children’s cry to save Mother Earth. To hear the song, follow the link HERE. The song could become synonymous with the whole plastic campaign and, sung by children, will aim to win hearts and minds, make more of a positive impact on those responsible for implementing change, and carry the message of our overall campaign out into the world via schools.

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