Tackling plastic pollution

Villages, towns and cities across the UK are connected to the sea via streams and rivers, which carry our litter into the sea. Litter can either be blown directly into watercourses or is washed down storm drains, which lead into watercourses. Once in the aquatic environment, the litter either stays in there, damaging river habitats and the wildlife that lives there, or it makes a journey to the sea where it will stay for hundreds of years, gradually breaking down into microplastics and harming marine life.  

Every year, it is estimated that 11 million tonnes of plastic ends up in our oceans. It’s estimated that the weight of all plastic entering the ocean every year is equivalent to the weight of approximately 60,000 fully-grown blue whales – and this is likely to triple by 2040.  

Shockingly, one in five people admit to leaving rubbish behind at the beach, with a whopping 42% of 18 to 24-year-olds admitting they have walked away from their rubbish, leaving it for the tide to clean up.

Plastic pollution is devastating to wildlife because it doesn’t simply disappear. It can take hundreds of years to break down into smaller and smaller pieces which can be easily ingested. Plastic is toxic and can kill wildlife or make them more susceptible to disease. Animals can become trapped and injured by plastic and it disrupts habitats, making it hard for some species to live and breed naturally, leading to depletions in populations. 

Scientists recently found that 100% of animals washed up on British shores had plastic in their stomachs, and every year, plastic kills one million sea birds and 100,000 sea mammals, turtles and fish.