Challenging Government, Plastic Pollution Posted — 22 April 2024
Earth Day 2024: Planet vs Plastic
Planet vs Plastics
Earthday.org is calling for to call for the end of plastic pollution for the sake of human and planetary health, and demanding a 60% reduction in the production of plastics by 2040. Plastic is everywhere, and it’s impacts are felt far and wide. With global plastic production increasing… it’s time we said enough is enough.
As plastics break down, they turn into microplastics and nanoplastics (MNPs), and may never truly leave our environment. MNPs have been found in our water, our bodies, and even our atmosphere. The human health implications are only just beginning to be understood.
This is more than an environment problem, it’s a ticking time bomb. What’s worse, its reported that the petrochemical industry and plastic producers knew, and still pushed out plastics as a low cost, in high volumes…for big profit. Our recycling systems can no longer keep up with scale of the problem.
People Power
Since the start of Plastic Free Communities, our ocean activists have been working to highlight the impact that plastic pollution has on our health, and the health of the ocean. Plastic pollution affects every part of the UK, as our leads tell us..
In the South West…Peter Hoyland, the Community Lead for Plastic Free Exmoor, sees the extent of plastic pollution on his local beaches daily…
We sometimes find dead fish and crabs caught up in nets and lines that we collect. At times the sheer amount of plastic on a beach can sometimes shock people when they attend a beach clean…particularly when they start noticing small beads of polystyrene or other micro plastics. One piece of polystyrene was so big, we couldn’t get it in the back of our car.
In Scotland, Angela from Plastic Free Helensburgh, is shocked by the amount of plastic that her groups finds, and has had to source tractors to remove it all.
There is a solution…
By working on a five-step toolkit, our communities show that we can fight back against the tide of plastic, that there is a workable solution, and we can say NO to single-use plastics. We have enormous power to create change, one community at a time.
Check out this podcast which explores how, through Plastic Free Communities, small actions are having big impacts.
But we need the government to join us, and stop delaying on proven plastic reduction policies. Every year of delays for an all-in deposit return scheme, means millions more bottles in the UK will pollute our environment.
- Say NO to single use, and find out more about making an impact with Plastic Free Communities
- Find out about SAS Plastic Pollution Campaigns and why DRS is so important
- To find out more about Earth Day, watch this video: Earth Day 2024: Planet vs. Plastics (youtube.com)
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