Plastic bag or jellyfish? Sea turtles looking for food can have trouble telling the difference. Saving The Waves / Instagram
If you ever feel like the world's plastic nightmare might never end, a new study shows proof that plastic pollution legislation actually works.
There are significantly fewer plastic bags on the seafloor ever since a number of European countries introduced fees on the items, according to a 25-year study from the UK government's Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS).
<p>
Researchers found an estimated
<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/apr/05/drop-in-plastic-bags-littering-british-seas-linked-to-introduction-of-5p-charge" target="_blank">30 percent drop</a> in the number of plastic bags in waters around Norway, Germany, northern France and Ireland.
</p><p>"It is encouraging to see that efforts by all of society, whether the public, industry, NGOs or government to reduce plastic bags are having an effect," Thomas Maes, Marine Litter Scientist at CEFAS, said in a <a href="https://www.cefas.co.uk/news/25-years-of-research-reveals-changing-distribution-of-marine-litter/" target="_blank">statement</a>.<br></p><p>
"We observed sharp declines in the percentage of plastic bags as captured by fishing nets trawling the seafloor around the UK compared to 2010 and this research suggests that by working together we can reduce, reuse and recycle to tackle the marine litter problem."
</p><p>Ireland and Denmark were the first two countries to introduce levies for single-use plastic bags in 2003. A number of European countries followed. In 2015, England became the last country in the UK to introduce a fee.</p><p><span></span>The study, published in the journal
<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.02.245" target="_blank"><em>Science of The Total Environment</em></a><em>,</em> was based on 39 independent scientific surveys of the distribution and abundance of marine litter on seabeds of the North Sea, English Channel, Celtic Sea and Irish Sea between 1992 and 2017.
</p><p style="">
Plastic trash such as bags, bottles and fishing debris were commonly observed over the entire 25-year period, with 63 percent of the 2,461 trawls containing at least one plastic litter item.
</p><p>
In a statement, Richard Harrington from the
<a href="https://www.mcsuk.org/news/seafloor_bag_drop" target="_blank">Marine Conservation Society</a> said the decrease in the number of plastic bags recorded in the surveys is "very encouraging."
</p><p>
<span></span>"It shows that fiscal measures can work—charging for what was once a free item, often used just once and thrown away, has had a real influence on consumer behavior without genuinely hurting people in the pocket," Harrington said.
</p><p>
<span></span>However, even though fewer plastic bags were recorded, the researchers found widespread distribution of other plastic items on the seafloor. They also noted a significant upward trend of fishing debris.
</p><p>
This means plastic bag legislation is merely a start in reducing the
<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/8-million-metric-tons-of-plastic-dumped-into-worlds-oceans-each-year-1882012563.html">8 million tons of plastic waste</a> that gets dumped into our <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/oceans">oceans</a> every year.
</p><p>
As
<a href="https://www.wwf.org.uk/" target="_blank">WWF UK</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/wwf_uk/status/981821453980008448" target="_blank">tweeted</a>, "Great to see less plastic bags in our oceans, but we need the government to put an end to the use of all avoidable single-use plastic by 2025."
</p><p>
In March, the UK government released a startling
<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/future-of-the-sea--2" target="_blank">report</a> warning that plastic pollution in the world's oceans is <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/oceans-plastic-pollution-2550762861.html">projected to increase three-fold</a> within seven years unless action is taken.
</p><p>
The
<em>Future of the Sea</em> report found that human beings across the globe produce more than 300 million metric tons of plastic per year. Unfortunately, a lot of that material ends up in our waters, with the total amount of plastic debris in the sea predicted to increase from 50 million metric tons in 2015 to 150 million metric tons by 2025.
</p><p>
<span></span>To solve this plastic epidemic, the authors suggested solutions that range from preventing plastic from entering the sea, introducing new biodegradable plastics, and campaigns that raise public awareness about marine protection.
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="afb2b" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9G78NN1576664215"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="976751614777266176" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Ocean Plastic Projected to Triple Within Seven Years https://t.co/3CQROfJboD @wwwfoecouk @GreenpeaceUK</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/976751614777266176">1521710706.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p>
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To combat the growing problem of plastic pollution in the ocean, the Scottish government plans to introduce legislation to ban the manufacture and sale of plastic-stemmed cotton buds.
According to the UK's Marine Conservation Society, plastic cotton buds, which are often flushed down the toilet and can pass through sewage treatment plants, are consistently listed in the top 10 items found during beach clean-ups and litter surveys.
<p>
“Banning plastic cotton buds would be a clear sign of our ambition to address marine plastics and demonstrate further leadership on this issue," Scotland's Environment Secretary Roseanna Cunningham said.
</p><p>"Despite various campaigns, people are continuing to flush litter down their toilets and this has to stop. Scotland's sewerage infrastructure collects and treats some 945 million liters of waste water each day. These systems are not designed to remove small plastic items such as plastic buds, which can kill marine <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/animals/">animals</a> and birds that swallow them."</p><p>
A proposal to introduce a ban will now be put to public consultation.
</p><p>
Last year, pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson switched their swabs from unnecessary plastic to paper sticks. The move was important because the plastic is impossible to recycle, meaning the discarded sticks end up in our landfills or out to sea.
</p><p>
Environmentalists cheered Scotland's proposal to outlaw plastic swabs, which would make it the first country in the UK to impose such a ban.</p><p>
“After finding over 3,500 plastic cotton bud sticks on beaches across Scotland during our Great British Beach Clean in 2017, that's an average of 29 for every 100m surveyed, we're delighted to hear Cabinet Secretary Roseanna Cunningham's plans to ban the making and selling of them in Scotland,"
<a href="https://www.mcsuk.org/news/bud_stick_ban" target="_blank">said</a> Catherine Gemmell, Scotland Conservation officer for the Marine Conservation Society.
</p><p>
"For things that are maybe used for just five minutes to clean out ears or put on eye make-up—they can cause huge impacts on our oceans for hundreds of years."
</p><p>
The marine conservation organization warned that discarded plastic cotton sticks that end up in our seas can accumulate toxins such as
<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pcbs">PCBs</a> or can be accidentally ingested by <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/marine-life">marine life</a>, causing physical damage or starvation.
</p><p>
"Paper and cardboard alternatives are already available for those who need them," Gemmell continued, "The ban will help us all make the change, however, no matter what it is made of, we still want everyone to only flush the 3 P's down the loo—pee, poo and paper, for the sake of Scotland's seas!"
</p><p>
Alasdair Neilson, the project officer at the environmental charity
<a href="https://www.fidra.org.uk/" target="_blank">Fidra</a>, which runs <a href="https://www.cottonbudproject.org.uk/" target="_blank">The Cotton Bud Project</a>, <a href="https://www.mcsuk.org/news/bud_stick_ban" target="_blank">added</a>: “This progressive step will be welcomed by everyone who has seen cotton buds polluting our beaches and harming our wildlife. A ban would support the responsible businesses that have already removed this single-use plastic item from their shelves. Let's hope it also marks a bigger shift in the way we use and value plastics.
</p><p>
"These products are completely unnecessary as biodegradable alternatives are readily available. The need for action is clear and I would encourage everyone with an interest in safeguarding our natural environment to take part in the consultation when it opens."
</p>
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Plastic Pollution Is ‘Low Priority’ for Shoppers, Soft Drink Execs Tell Policy Officials
20 December 2017
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By Alice Ross
Soft drinks executives told government officials most shoppers don't care much about the environmental impact of the plastic drinks bottles they buy, according to documents seen by Unearthed.
Coca-Cola, Lucozade Ribena, Danone and Nestle were among those invited to a soft drinks roundtable to discuss the problem of plastic bottle waste and recycling at Defra's headquarters in October.
<p style="">They told officials: "The environmental impact of packaging was low on consumers' priorities when buying a soft drink," according to a note of the meeting obtained by Unearthed using Freedom of Information rules.</p><p style="">Plastic pollution, particularly single-use packaging such as drinks bottles, has come under increasing scrutiny in the past year after global concern at the amount of plastic entering the oceans: An estimated 15 million plastic drinks bottles are thrown away rather than recycled every day in the UK.</p><p style="">The screening of <em><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/david-attenborough-blue-planet-ii-2490636664.html">Blue Planet 2</a></em> this autumn, which included footage of turtles trapped in plastic debris and albatrosses feeding their young on <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/plastics">plastics</a>, has only increased the public concern around the issue.</p><p style="">This week environment secretary Michael Gove <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-42397399" target="_blank">told reporters</a> he had been inspired by <em>Blue Planet 2</em> to tackle the issue and wanted to boost recycling rates, cut the amount of plastic in circulation and to make recycling easier by reducing the number of different types of plastic in common use.</p><p style="">Drinks company executives at the October roundtable meeting told officials, including waste minister Therese Coffey, that "environmentally-aware consumers like the idea of less plastic" but others "associate softer bottles with inferior quality."</p><p style="">They added that it "may be easier to address littering than attempt to educate consumers on materials."</p><p style="">The meeting was held under Chatham House rules, where no information is shared on who said what.</p><p style="">Consumers tend to say they do care about the environmental footprint of drinks packaging. In September, a <a href="https://www.newfoodmagazine.com/news/44561/44561/" target="_blank">YouGov survey</a> for recycling company Veolia found that half of consumers (51 percent) would choose a new drink in a recyclable container over a familiar one in a non-recyclable container. </p><p style="">In 2015, 71 percent of respondents to a <a href="https://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/cumulus_uploads/document/1arp7wpb5b/ResourceAssociationResults_150324_plastic_bottles_Website.pdf" target="_blank">YouGov survey</a> said they would back a small increase in the price of a plastic milk bottle if this ensured it was partly made of recycled plastics and would be recycled after use.</p><p style="">Gove is currently considering whether to introduce a deposit return scheme (DRS), in which consumers are charged a small amount for the container their drink comes in, which is refunded when they return the bottle or can. In February Coca-Cola announced it <a href="https://unearthed.greenpeace.org/2017/02/22/coca-cola-u-turn-bottle-deposit-scheme/" target="_blank">now supports a DRS</a>, after Unearthed revealed it had previously <a href="https://unearthed.greenpeace.org/2017/01/25/investigation-coca-cola-fight-back-plans-tackle-plastic-waste/" target="_blank">lobbied the Scottish government</a> against it.</p><p style="">At the October meeting, some of the drinks companies said introducing the new system alongside existing curb side collections could be "confusing for consumers," who the companies suggested were "more interested in getting rid of the rubbish (convenience)" than in any financial reward.</p><p style="">Nearly three-quarters of those <a href="https://www.mcsuk.org/media/cleanseas/Public%20support%20for%20Deposit%20Return%20Systems%20across%20the%20UK%20YG%20Approved.pdf" target="_blank">polled by YouGov</a> in August on behalf of the <a href="https://www.mcsuk.org/" target="_blank">Marine Conservation Society</a> said they would support a deposit return scheme.</p><p style="">The Marine Conservation Society's head of pollution, Dr. Laura Foster, said: "Responsible consumers, manufacturers and retailers are increasingly becoming aware that they don't want to see their products harming the environment ... Incentivising returning of beverage containers through DRS has been shown to be highly effective, with return rates of over 95% in countries where it has been introduced."</p><p style="">A spokeswoman for Coca-Cola said the company supports DRS and has committed to double the amount of recycled plastic in its bottles to 50 percent by 2020. "We will source this material from a recycling plant in Lincolnshire and by doing so make a significant contribution to the circular economy in this country."</p><p>She added: "No other soft drinks company is doing as much to make its packaging as sustainable as possible and you should ask other companies what their view on a DRS is, as their view may well differ to ours."</p><p style="">Andrew Opie of the British Retail Consortium, which was present at the meeting, said: "We know how much consumers dislike litter and want to work with the government and others to reduce it." But he said consumers prefer curb side collection, which is "already effective".</p><p style="">Gavin Partington, director general at the British Soft Drinks Association, said: "As an industry, we are open to exploring whether a properly considered deposit return scheme could be a part of an overall solution and we are ready to work with government and others on this." </p><p style="">A Nestle spokeswoman told Unearthed: "We agree in principle that a well-designed deposit return scheme (DRS), that is simple and easy to use, could be part of a holistic solution to achieving higher collection and recycling rates."</p><p style="">The Scottish government plans to introduce the UK's first DRS scheme. "This is clearly new territory for everyone and we will offer our full support in the development and piloting of this scheme," the Nestle spokeswoman said.</p><p style="">A Danone spokeswoman said: "We don't comment on the details of what was discussed in the meeting. However, we would like to say that Danone supports efficient solutions that lower societal costs and incentivize packaging producers to increase the recycling and reuse of their packaging.</p><p style="">"We are ready to engage with stakeholders at local and global level to design the system (or combination of systems) that makes the most sense. We believe that a DRS has its place within the portfolio of possible systems for a given country, region or city."</p><p style="">Lucozade Ribena and Defra had not responded at the time of publication.</p>
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By Imogen Calderwood
Glitter is great, right? Particularly now that it's getting dark and cold and a bit depressing outside.
But, as much as we love glitter for making everything look festive, a chain of children's nurseries in the UK might actually have a point.
<p style="">Tops Day Nurseries has decided that glitter has to go, for the sake of the environment. </p><p style="">Just like microbeads—which have now been banned in the UK—glitter is a <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/microplastics">microplastic</a> that can do "terrible damage" to our seas, oceans, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/marine-life">marine life</a> and, ultimately, us too. </p><p style="">Leftovers from children's art projects wash into the water system, and from there can end up in the food chain, according to the nurseries' Managing Director Cheryl Hadland.</p><p style="">"You can see when the children are taking their bits of craft home and there's glitter on the cardboard, it blows off and into the air," said Hadland, who is in charge of 2,500 children in 19 nurseries across Dorset, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Somerset and Wiltshire.</p><p style="">"There are 22,000 nurseries in the country," she added, "so if we're all getting through kilos and kilos of glitter, we're doing terrible damage."</p><p style="">But Hadland added that she "loved glitter" and she is trying to find an alternative material for craft sessions.</p><div class="rm-embed embed-media"><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FEcoWatch%2Fposts%2F1729526673726929&width=500" width="500" height="482" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true"></iframe></div><p style=""><a href="https://www.mcsuk.org/" target="_blank">Marine Conservation Society</a> described it as a "proactive approach" and welcomed the nurseries' announcement.<br></p><p style="">Sue Kinsey from the Marine Conservation Society, said: "While glitter is only a small part of the microplastic load getting into watercourses and the sea, steps like these will all add up to something greater." </p><p style="">Alice Horton, from the UK's Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, told the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/nov/17/nurseries-ban-glitter-in-pre-christmas-drive-for-cleaner-seas" target="_blank">Guardian</a>: "On a small scale, one nursery banning it is unlikely to have any environmental impact, but it's a good environmental statement to make, like one person choosing not to buy bottled water to reduce plastic bottle waste. [It is] not going to change the world but [it] sets a target for others."<br></p><p style="">Microplastics have become a hot topic in the UK, with <a href="https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/microbeads-ban-uk-oceans-environment-pollution/" target="_blank">the government announcing the strictest ban in the world on microbeads</a> to come into force by the end of this year.</p><p style="">The tiny plastics are found in everyday cosmetic products like body scrubs, face washes, toothpaste and cleaning products. And a single shower can result in 100,000 plastic particles entering the ocean. </p><p style="">Once plastic gets into the ocean, it acts as a magnet for pollutants. Toxins that wash into bodies of water—for example, agricultural pesticides and chemicals from industrial plants—latch onto plastic. And plastic in the water is then eaten by marine animals.<br></p><p style="">It is already affecting our food chain. The average person who eats seafood swallows an estimated 11,000 pieces of microplastic every year, according to researchers at the <a href="http://www.ecotox.ugent.be/micro-plastics-mussel-tissue" target="_blank">University of Ghent</a>.</p><p style="">Sir David Attenborough has been championing the fight against plastic pollution—which <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/david-attenborough-blue-planet-ii-2490636664.html">he has described</a> as "heartbreaking."</p><p style="">"We may think we live a long way from the oceans but we don't. What we actually do here … has a direct effect on the oceans and what the oceans do then reflects back on us," he <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/oct/15/david-attenborough-urges-immediate-action-on-plastics-blue-planet" target="_blank">said</a>.</p><p style="">"It is one world. And it's in our care," he continued. "For the first time in the history of humanity, for the first time in 500 million years, one species has the future in the palm of its hands. I just hope it realizes that that is the case." </p><p style="">Global Citizen campaigns for the Global Goals, including to protect our oceans and seas. You can take action with us <a href="https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/take-action/" target="_blank">here</a>.</p><p style=""> <em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/glitter-banned-nursery-uk-microplastic/" target="_blank">Global Citizen</a>.</em></p>
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