The Problem with Plastic

Up to 12.7 million tonnes of plastic ends up in the ocean every year - killing marine life and threatening precious ecosystems. It endangers more than 1,200 species from ingestion or entanglement.

Plastic was first introduced in the 1950s as a miraculous substance that was cheap, lightweight and could be thrown away after use. But we quickly realized that there is no ‘away’. Most plastic never really biodegrades—it remains in our environment for hundreds of years. In fact, most of the plastic that we first started using in the last century is still in our environment today.

In the UK alone we use 35 million plastic bottles every day, but nearly half of these are not recycled.

The Facts

Plastic never goes away

Plastic is a durable material made to last forever, yet 33 percent of it is used once and then discarded. Plastic cannot biodegrade; it breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces.

Plastic spoils our groundwater

There are tens of thousands of landfills across the globe. Buried beneath each one of them, plastic leachate full of toxic chemicals is seeping into groundwater and flowing downstream into lakes and rivers.

Plastic attracts other pollutants

Manufacturers' additives in plastics, like flame retardants, BPAs and PVCs, can leach their own toxins. These oily poisons repel water and stick to petroleum-based objects like plastic debris.

Plastic threatens wildlife

Entanglement, ingestion and habitat disruption all result from plastic ending up in the spaces where animals live. In our oceans alone, plastic debris outweighs zooplankton by a ratio of 36-to-1.

Plastic poisons our food chain

Even plankton, the tiniest creatures in our oceans, are eating microplastics and absorbing their toxins. The substance displaces nutritive algae that creatures up the food chain require.

Plastic affects human health

Chemicals leached by plastics are in the blood and tissue of nearly all of us. Exposure to them is linked to cancers, birth defects, impaired immunity, endocrine disruption and other ailments.

Plastic costs billions to abate

Everything suffers: tourism, recreation, business, the health of humans, animals, fish and birds—because of plastic pollution. The financial damage continuously being inflicted is inestimable.

What can you do?

Reduce the amount of plastic you buy
Always carry bags with you in case you need to do some shopping – if you have a car always keep some shopping bags in it, and keep some in the office.
If doing your supermarket shopping online ask for it to be delivered without plastic bags (note Morrisons doesn’t offer this option so use a supermarket that does or e-mail Morrisons to ask them to change this).
Don’t buy bottled water (buy a refillable bottle)
Try not to buy fruit and vegetables in plastic trays (even better, buy organic as they tend to be in cardboard trays).
Use your own containers for takeaway food and drinks (eg a Hug Mug).
Think of alternatives to using plastic and if you do buy plastic, make sure you reuse or recycle it.
Take part in a beach clean: Beach Cleans

There are several petitions around at the moment in support of deposits on bottles – please sign one here: Stop Plastic Pollution