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Malta’s War Against Plastic Is Working. Can We Start A War Against Cars Now?

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When you think about it, it’s pretty impressive how, in the span of a few short years, the people of Malta have become so passionate about fighting plastic. 

You could argue that the majority of the Maltese still don’t care enough and littering remains a major problem. But you must admit that the shame-game fought by anti-plastic warriors is reaping some serious results. 

Supermarkets are ceasing to sell disposable plastic. Bars and cafes have mass-replaced plastic straws with paper ones. And festa organisers are avoiding balloons and confetti. Just this week one festa organising a fundraising meal has asked patrons to bring their own plates and cutlery. 

So how can we achieve the same results on other issues that desperately need a shake-up? Can similar strategies that worked for plastic be used to fight something like drink-driving? And to take a more pressing current example: could we do the same for our traffic and air quality problem? 

To do this, we first have to understand what the anti-plastic warriors did right. 

Three elements stand out in their campaigns: inspiration, shame and narcissism (for lack of a better word).

Let’s start with the first: inspiration. The anti-plastic movement in Malta didn’t begin with complainers. It began with doers. It began with the great work of organisations like Żibel and Malta Clean Up that decided to proactively take matters into their own hands, show up and clean up litter from beautiful places around Malta and Gozo. 

Their work was inspiring. And they found clever ways of communicating it. Whether it was fancy drone footage, impressive numbers, or just feel-good videos of a group of young people picking up plastic, they got people’s attention. Primarily, they helped demonstrate how much trash (usually plastic) is discarded everywhere around us. They sensitised us to the problem and our collective hand in it. 

After winning over people with their own hard work and proactive mentality, the next step was to employ the shame game. Here people like Cami Appelgren and many others made excellent use of massive Facebook groups like Are You Being Served and The Salott. Whenever they witnessed plastic being used unnecessarily and systematically – such as at supermarkets – they called them out.

At times it felt a little like cyberbullying, with massive mobs shaming businesses online simply for doing what they have always done. But the campaigners didn’t stop at shame. Whenever one of those businesses took decisive action against plastic, the anti-plastic warriors showered them with public praise which more than made up for the initial shaming.

Celebrating success was key to making the shame game work and here the anti-plastic warriors bandied together to praise those companies that took the right action. These success stories soon became the top stories of the day on news platforms and the ones which attracted most engagement.

Companies quickly realised that doing something to fight plastic would earn them lots of high value free PR.

And in today’s age of personal branding, it’s not just companies who want good PR and social media praise: it’s all of us. Which is why the plastic campaign soon spilled over among influencers, micro-influencers and the general public. That’s where a campaign like #WaveOfChange left a huge impact: taking advantage of our narcissistic tendencies in the same way the ice bucket challenge did for ALS some years ago. 

This campaign was given a massive helping hand with the inspirational swim of Neil Agius, who completed a 70-km swim around Malta in 22 hours to raise awareness about marine litter. Like Żibel and Malta Cleanup before, his actions – and those of his fellow swimmers – made his #WaveOfChange go viral. 

Suddenly hundreds of people were doing their own small and manageable bit: picking up three pieces of trash and sharing photos and videos of them doing it. This is where a bit of narcissism went a long way: selfies and videos of people picking up plastic inspired others to do the same. 

There were probably other things that helped the anti-plastic movement in Malta. It obviously helped that plastic is an apolitical issue and instead of blaming government, activists made us aware of our collective blame. It also helped that this is a worldwide issue getting lots of attention from organisations like Sky News. 

But the strategic tactics of the anti-plastic campaign can be applied to other causes if the right people take them on.

Malta clearly has a major problem of traffic congestion and air quality. And instead of taking the collective action we need to take – which is to significantly reduce our car usage – we are simply widening roads, felling trees and buying more cars than ever. 

There is a lot of public shaming going on when it comes to chopping down trees. Unfortunately, this often targets the government, turning the issue dangerously political. And the public shaming hasn’t been preceded by the integrity-building exercises like the cleanups that gave people like Żibel and Cami Appelgren the credibility to shame others. 

So what anti-traffic and air quality campaigners may need to do is start with a little positive, hopeful and inspiring personal actions that could trigger some viral action. Perhaps they should start a #DumpYourCar campaign where people could show they have taken decisive personal action to fight the traffic problem and inspire others to do the same, while shaming those who refuse to become part of the solution.

Imagine driving (or even owning) a car became as embarrassing as using a plastic straw. Imagine how efficiently public transport would work. Imagine all the parking spaces we could replace with trees. Just think of the improved air quality and reduction in respiratory diseases. 

Perhaps it’s time to expand the wave of change. 

Do you think these tactics would be effective in a wider context? How would you adapt them to take on the excessive number of cars? Share your thoughts in the comments below

READ NEXT: Five Deaths A Week And A €2,000,000 Bill: Malta’s Air Quality Should Be A Serious Public Health Issue

 

Christian is an award-winning journalist and entrepreneur who founded Lovin Malta, a new media company dedicated to creating positive impact in society. He is passionate about justice, public finances and finding ways to build a better future.

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