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

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

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.