The March to End Littering between Marseille and Paris

The outlandish 880 km mission was dreamt up by Edmund Platt; the Englishman Who Wanted to Clean France and founder of the Marseille-based non-profit 1 Piece of Rubish / 1 Déchet par Jour, with Frédéric Munsch, an independent videographer who will be filming the entire trip. They are currently walking between Aix-en-Provence and Avignon.

This project is kicking off amidst U.N. studies stating that around 75% of the used masks and other pandemic-related plastic waste will end up in landfills or floating on the seas (U.N. report, 29th July 2020) and so constitute a risk of over-pollution because polypropylene, the plastic material constituting single-use masks, is not biodegradable. There is only one company in the whole of France that is able to recycle these disposable masks.

Eddie and Fred left the Saint-Charles train station in Marseille yesterday, 1st October 2020 for a 7 week journey by foot, following the route of the high-speed trainline that runs from Marseille-Paris. They will collect waste, attempt educational meetings with schools, environmental protection associations and organise public clean-ups with the support of all the players who want to get involved. They will arrive on November 19 at the Gare de Lyon in Paris.

Edmund Platt is also known for having carried out an 8,000 km hitchhiking adventure in 2017 around France in the same spirit of cleaning and raising awareness, a project named after his pseudonym The English Snail : L’escargot anglais.

A book telling the incredible story of The Englishman who wanted to clean France will be released on November 19th in France (date TBC for English version), exclusive chapters from the French version will be released during the march between Marseille and Paris once large quantities of waste from the three M’s (McDonald’s, Mégoculés (CigButtWankers) and Masks) have been picked up. The first chapter of the French version has been available since yesterday on the website of the association 1 Piece of Rubbish / 1 Déchet par Jour.

If you want to arrange an interview with Edmund Platt, please contact Adrien Piquera on 0033 6 83 60 03 32.

If you need anything, please call me, and do not hesitate to share this initiative to colleagues or anyone you think may be interested.

You may wish to use our library of royalty-free images which you will find here.

External news:

June 5, 2019: The European Council adopts the directive for reducing single-use plastics introducing restrictions on its production. (European Council – Conseil Européen)

July 7, 2020: There is a correlation between microplastic pollution in our bodies and neurological diseases like Parkinson’s (Journal of Neurology, Neurourgery & Psychiary)

May 17, 2020: A mask takes 450 years to decompose in nature (Surfrider spokesperson, Europe 1).

May 13, 2020: There has been an increase of more than 20% in food plastic packaging in France since the start of the Covid-19 crisis (ELIPSO – association of plastic packaging companies)

June 2, 2020: The UK government pushes back a ban on plastic stirrers, straws and cotton buds for six months; the Scottish government postponed its circular economy bill; and a deposit-return scheme for bottles (including plastic) is delayed until 2022. (Reuters)

Wishing you a pleasant afternoon, I hope to hear from you soon.

Adrien, 0033 6 83 60 03 32

Eddie and the English Snail Team

Press contact: 00 33 6 83 60 03 32

Instagram: @lescargotanglais

Website: https://1dechetparjour.com/