The 3P Pledge Champion Award is a Scottish based community initiative led by the environmental education venture Wild Planet Explorers.
The 3P Pledge Champion Award asks every individual to pledge to only throw pee, poo and toilet paper down the toilet and nothing else (you can be sick of course!), including flushable and biodegradable toilet wipes and period products. The 3P Pledge Champion Award then encourages participants to raise awareness to others and take action to tackle marine litter and other litter closes to their homes and schools.
The aim of the 3P Pledge Champion Award is to stop blockages in pipes (that back up into homes and streets) and the overflow of toilet waste into local streams, rivers and sea, which often ends up back on beaches. This not only impacts on our safe enjoyment of our waters and beaches but also has a huge negative effect on wildlife in the seas through pollution, in particular through plastic ingestion.
The 3P Pledge Champion Award is mainly focusing on toilet related marine litter e.g. toilet wipes including biodegradable and flushable ones, period products including period towels and liners, and tampons, cotton buds, nappies, contact lenses, plasters and other items. However additionally it focuses on the need to reduce and slow down surface water run off which causes the overflows during heavy rain, as a result of climate change e.g. through encouraging the return to uncovered soils and green areas and rain gardens to absorb water, rather than more paving, tarmac, driveways.
Your waste water from your houses or schools is taken straight by pipes to your local waste water treatment centre every day.
Learn more here from Scottish Water: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTRPk-O16iI
Many of the pipes in Scotland and across the UK were built as combined sewage and rainfall pipes – the pipes linked to those drains on the side of pavements and in streets.
Most are only as wide as a CD/DVD.
With sewage and waste water from our houses, schools and businesses travelling down the same pipes as rainwater, if there is too much rain – which we are seeing more with climate change – these pipes are designed to overflow straight into the sea and rivers. They were never designed to take as much rain and sewage as they are now and in some areas there is not the space to install larger pipes for example.
This means sewage is taken with the rainwater straight into the sea and rivers which we do not want.
If items have been flushed down the toilet which shouldn’t have and are in this pipe when heavy rain comes either, blocking it or passing through it, they will also end up in the rivers and seas. Which is what we are seeing more and more.
So please always only flush pee, poo and toilet paper.
Take part in the 3P Pledge Champion Award to help tackle this problem!
By attending both of these sessions, children complete Action 1 of the 3P Pledge Champion Award. More information below.
To find out how bad litter really is on our UK beaches including sewage related litter, why not take a look at Marine Conservation Society’s Beachwatch Report 2023 .
You can take part online or attend the Wild Planet Explorers sessions and presentations and then complete the award.
Individuals (adult or child), Families, Nurseries, Schools, Groups and Businesses
The 3P Pledge Champion Award asks participants to complete 4 actions:
Action 1 : Understand the problem of marine litter stemming from toilets and other plastic sources.
Action 2: Take ownership of the problem and pledge to never flush anything bar the 3P’s.
Action 3: Raise awareness and encourage others to do the same.
Action 4: Take practical action to clean up the litter on beaches, in playgrounds, at parks, in streets local to you.
The 4 actions are the same for everyone who takes part in the Award however HOW each action is completed varies. The Award is designed to be easily achievable & fun for individuals, families, groups, schools, nurseries and businesses.
On completing the Award each individual will receive an I’m a 3P Pledge Champion each and/or We’re 3P Pledge Champion’s certificate celebrating their achievements.
The 3P Pledge Champion Award delivers for school curriculum outcomes, for Eco Award such as Eco Schools, John Muir Award and for many Scout and Guide badges and awards.
For nurseries and schools, children attend Wild Planet Explorer’s fun, engaging and interactive Orsom the Octopus session for 3-9 years.
Older primary or secondary children receive Wild Planet Explorer’s interactive and engaging Marine Litter Pollution Presentation.
To find out the detail of what actions you need to do as an individual, family, class, school, nursery, group or business, please email Joanna McFarlane who founded the 3P Pledge Champion Award on jowildplanetexplorers@gmail.com
Many families, Scout groups, nurseries and schools are already taking part in the Award across Scotland, please scroll through the posts on the Wild Planet Explorer’s Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/wildplanetexplorers/ to see some of their amazing pledge pictures and photos of what they’ve been up to!
The 3P Pledge Champion Award is a wonderful opportunity for you to both help clean up litter but also help prevent any more entering our rivers and seas by spreading the message.
The Award is fun, you’ll learn lots and you’ll make a difference not only to wildlife and the seas but also to others, by encouraging them to take action too and make their own difference!
Scouts taking action for their Award!
Use & copy the below logo from this page & use on any other social media or publication that helps spread the message.
When sharing your pledge, please share the Wild Planet Explorers 3P Pledge link to this page if you’d like to https://wildplanetexplorers.co.uk/3p-pledge/ which helps others understand why you’ve made the pledge & the level of sewage on our beaches through the MCS Beachwatch 2023 litter report on the same page.
Become a 3P Pledge Champion for YOUR local village, street, town, city, business, charity, school, nursery or group.
3P Pledge Champions complete the 3P Pledge Champion Award & lead the way on the 3P Pledge in their local area, promoting the messages of preventing & cleaning up marine litter. They have full use of the 3P Pledge logos & are able to set up their own community 3P Pledge Champion Facebook pages.
Please get in touch with Joanna McFarlane, Wild Planet Explorer’s 3P Pledge Champion Award Education Manager on jowildplanetexplorers@gmail.com or via the Wild Planet Explorers Facebook page Wild Planet Explorers
Joanna will explain how you achieve the award if you are an individual, family, group, nursery, school or business. Remember all the actions are the same, how you achieve them will vary.
Thank you for playing your part in cleaning up our seas, rivers and beaches.
© 2023 · Wild Planet Explorers
