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Why Plastic Pollution is Personal | Natalie Fee | TEDxBristol

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It's World Oceans Day - and Sky Ocean Rescue is continuing its campaign to reduce pollution and raise awareness about the impact single-use plastic bottles have on the environment.

Since the campaign began, we've uncovered disturbing truths about the material choking our oceans and raised awareness of the devastating impact of non-recyclables on animal life.

But how much do you know about plastics? Test yourself with our quiz here.
:: Sky's Ocean Rescue campaign encourages people to reduce their single-use plastics. You can find out more about the campaign and how to get involved at www.skyoceanrescue.com

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Eco-savvy or totally rubbish? Test your plastics knowledge with our quiz

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It's World Oceans Day - and Sky Ocean Rescue is continuing its campaign to reduce pollution and raise awareness about the impact single-use plastic bottles have on the environment. Since the campaign began, we've uncovered disturbing truths about the material choking our oceans and raised awareness of the devastating impact of non-recyclables on animal life.

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Play with the app to reduce your plastic footprint.

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Since BBCs Blue Planet 2 highlighted the devastation that our plastic pollution can have, many people are asking what they can do to reduce their plastic waste. Plastic has become an integrated part of our lives, so much so that most are unaware of how much we use and what we can do to reduce our plastic waste.

Virtually all of the plastic that has ever been made still exists today as it stays in the environment for up to 1,000 years, and we produce around massive 335 million tonnes of plastic each year - that is roughly the same weight as all of humanity combined! Our reliance on plastic is devastating to the environment with 13 million tonnes of plastic entering the ocean each year meaning that there will be more plastic than fish by 2050! A 50% of the plastic we use is single use so making simple changes could drastically reduce the amount of plastic pollution we produce.

Here are some tips and recommendations to help you decrease the size of your plastic footprint:

To get you going, a great place to start is to measure the amount of waste you produce. Why not use our free Plastic Calculator to see how you score. This can help you to identify key sources of plastic waste and get you thinking about areas of plastic use that you may not have considered:

Plastic Calculator

Next you can move on to the four R's of plastic reduction:

This is the easiest way to reduce your plastic waste and the area that has received the most media attention. Simply turn down single use plastics when offered, such as:

Straws - 8.5 million straws are used and thrown out each year in the UK. Reduce your plastic footprint by turning them down when offered or asking for a reusable or biodegradable alternative

we still use over Plastic bags - in the UK 2 billion single use plastic bags a year. Simply use a bag for life, keeping spares in convenient places so you don't forget, or take larger bags with you so you can save those pennies and refuse the plastic bags.

Coffee cups - using your own reusable coffee cup can help you reduce the 7 million coffee cups of waste that is produced each day in the UK.

Plastic cups - wasteful and less pleasant than the reusable alternatives, invest in a reusable water bottle or a work mug instead.

Single use cutlery and stirrers - like straws, plastic cutlery and stirrers are used and thrown away after one use. Turn them down in favour for reusable or more environmentally friendly alternatives.

3. Reduce

After first refusing single use plastics, the next step is to think about the plastics you use everyday and the ways in which to reduce the amount you use. Here are some tips:

Biodegradable Cotton Buds - Plastic cotton buds are one of the top ten forms of beach litter and pollute the ocean as they are commonly incorrectly flushed down the toilet. Biodegradable alternatives help you further reduce your plastic waste and to protect marine wildlife.

As you ensure that any new (or second-hand) clothes that you buy are built to last, consider the material that the clothes are made out of. Polyester, acrylic and nylon clothing shed plastic micro fibres during each wash which then pollute the ocean. Each year, Avoid Plastic Microfibres - half a million tonnes of plastic microfibers from these clothes reach the ocean! Buying clothes made from natural materials such as wool and linen, that do not pollute and will eventually biodegrade, can help to reduce your plastic impact.

Bar Soap and Shampoo - Drinking water is not the only source of plastic bottles, the bathroom is full of them. Although we are increasingly better at recycling our waste in the kitchen and outside, we recycle only 50% of our bathroom packaging. Using bar alternatives reduces your plastic waste and can often save you money as the bars often last longer than the bottled alternative.

Try and select the produce with the least packaging such as fresh bread which comes in paper bags instead of plastic. If you can, go to a local farmers market (remembering to take your own bag) where it is easiest to purchase plastic free food. You can also start looking for the ' Avoid plastic food wrapping - Plastic Free' logo in selected supermarkets.

4. Reuse

There are many innovative ways in which you can reuse any plastics you simply can't avoid. We have put together some highlights below:

Save old toothbrushes and use to scrub and wash your bathroom

Empty toothpaste tubes can be re-purposed as a frosting tube for icing cakes, by cutting off the end

Use empty plastic milk cartoons and margarine containers as storage around the house, plant pots/ saucers, bird feeders or even a watering can!

Choose more durable goods over disposable ones, such as razors

Reuse the plastic bag packaging you get from bread or fruit and vegetables as sandwich bags or to hold your food waste

Recycling should be part of our everyday lives. Most of us have household recycling collections provided by local councils, or make recycling part of our weekly shop at the local supermarket recycling points. Here are a few handy tips to think about when recycling:

Buy Recycled - You can help the environment by buying products that already contain recycled materials. Look for logo's that say 'Made from recycled materials'.

Know what you can and can't recycle - Make sure you look at the packaging and keep an eye out for recycling logos. Each area will have their own recycling guidelines, so try to follow them as best you can. Confused by the many different recycling logos on all the packaging? See this website for a break down of all the different logos and what they all mean.

Contamination - Any residue food or drink left on the recycling is contamination. If there is sufficient contamination in a load then it will all be rejected. Simply rinse out your cans, bottles and containers before putting it in the recycling to remove this residue. It doesn't take long and it will help to ensure you recycle as efficiently as possible, reduce your carbon impact and save the council money by reducing the need for unnecessary sorting. Make sure it dries before putting it in the recycling as water contaminates any paper/cardboard in there.

Work out your plastic footprint using our Plastic Calculator

Also, check out our Weekly Tips to see how you can reduce your wider environmental footprint. Each week we provide 2 easy suggestions on how you to reduce your carbon and environmental impact to help you gently transition to a more sustainable lifestyle.

We can also help you to measure and offset your carbon emissions through supporting our wide range of international offsetting projects.

You can also download on of our free carbon reduction posters including our Beginners Guide to Reducing Plastic Waste.

There are many great websites and articles on plastics and recycling, see below for some of our favourites:

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Carbon Footprint Ltd using RADsite CMS (https://www.radsite.co.uk/)

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Since BBCs Blue Planet 2 highlighted the devastation that our plastic pollution can have, many people are asking what they can do to reduce their plastic waste. Plastic has become an integrated part of our lives, so much so that most are unaware of how much we use and what we can do to reduce our plastic waste.

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The ubiquity of plastic is a terrifying fact - it's everywhere around us: in the ground and in the oceans, in our food, and in the water we drink. More than 8 million tons of plastic are dumped in our oceans every year; by 2050, we are going to have more plastic waste than fish. But what can we do about this? Isn't this a problem just for big companies and industries? Of course not. Remember that little drops make the mighty ocean! Inform yourself and others, be aware, change your lifestyle, and take action.

This plastic footprint calculator was created to help - find out what your plastic usage will be in a year's time. We encourage you to quit some bad habits and reduce the plastic footprint - believe it or not, but we can live without all these plastic bags, disposable cups, straws, and plastic bottles. If you are concerned about our future and the Earth we pass on to the next generations, read on to find more information about plastic pollution.

It is estimated that only 5-10 % of the world's plastic is recycled. More than 30% of it ends up in a landfill and around one-third - in the oceans. How embarrassing. We've even created a new continent - a mass of plastic waste the size of Europe. Have a look at this National Geographic short animation about plastic pollution - we are certain that after watching it, you'll feel the need to change the world, step by step.

Did you know that microplastic - if inhaled or eaten by a person - increases the risk of cancer, asthma, infertility, and mental disorders?

So, how long does it take for plastic garbage to decompose? Scientists estimate that plastic can take more than 500 years to degrade, but this time can be shorter for specific items:

Plastic bags 10-1000 years;

Grocery bags 10-20 years;

Foam plastic cups - 50 years (have a look at this video: Plastic Pollution, Our Oceans, Our Future...);

Plastic disposable cups and plates - 400 years;

Disposable diapers - 450 years; and

Plastic bottles - 450-500 years.

Image source: futurism.com, on the basis of NOAA.

The 4R's is a rule to minimize and manage waste - it's fundamental for those who really care about the world we are living in. How do you start?

Refuse - Turn down all disposable plastics, such as coffee cups, straws, plastic bags, single-use cutlery, and stirrers. You are using it for seconds or minutes, but it will outlive you by a couple of hundreds of years.

Reduce - Choose the products with the least possible plastic waste: choose paper-wrapped products over those packaged in plastic, and buy biodegradable cotton swabs instead of plastic ones (this innocent stick is one of the top ten forms of beach litter, polluting the oceans) and avoid plastic microfibers in things like synthetic clothing.

Reuse (and repurpose) - Use plastic containers as many times as possible. Take your lunch in a Tupperware-type box, reuse your non-toxic, durable straw, and take a plastic bottle with you. Repurpose old plastic stuff - awaken your inner child and create a cool flower pot or a bird feeder.

Recycle - If the options above don't work, stick to the last one. Recycling plastic (and other materials) should be our everyday habit. Buy products that are made of recycled materials, choose ones that are easy to recycle, and rinse your waste before throwing it into a recycling bin to avoid waste contamination, which makes recycling impossible.

Sometimes it's even called the 5 R's rule - the last R standing for Rot, Repurpose or Remove, depending on the source.

If you are wondering what your yearly plastic consumption is, check out the plastic footprint calculator:

1. Start with your everyday needs and shopping habits. How many plastic bags do you take when grocery shopping? How many water bottles do you buy each week? Count all of them and type the values into the proper boxes. Let's assume that you buy 3 PET bottles per week (coke and water), 5 plastic bags ( Refuse rule!), 8 food wrappers, and 2 yogurt containers.

2. Let's move to the laundry, cleaning, and bathroom. Type the values that describe your needs, e.g., 4 cotton swabs/week and 4 detergents, 2 shampoo bottles, 2 refill packets per half year. Add the toothbrushes and toothpaste - in our example, it's 3 per year for both of them.

3. Add all disposable wastes and takeaway containers. Take-away lunch four times per week (don't forget about the cutlery pieces), grabbing a coffee on the go twice per week, a couple of drinks with straws, and a plastic plate on a Sunday barbecue... Urgh, it's a lot. We know it's quick and convenient, but it's the most shameful plastic waste you can easily avoid. Rethink, refuse a straw, reduce the trash, and bring your own container every time you can.

4. Plastic footprint calculator will add all the plastic you used throughout the year. In our example, it summed up to 64 pounds (29 kg), and the average for a European citizen is 68 pounds (31 kg). That's a heck of a lot of plastic! To make it worse, we can tell you that this footprint is still relatively small if you are living in the US: the average American throws away approximately 185 pounds (84 kg) a year! Multiply this by 300 million US inhabitants, and you will understand why plastic pollution is such a pressing issue.

Remember that the plastic footprint calculator features only the basic products - your plastic footprint may be much higher if you add some other products, e.g., plastic furniture, boxes, crates, buckets, flower pots, bowls, or any other plastic items.

Well, you can do a lot about that. Take the 4 R's pledge and start from small things:

Refuse the plastic bags and bring your own cloth bags. Keep a cotton bag in your backpack, in the car trunk, next to the front doors - where it's easy to notice and grab it when you're going shopping.

Bring your mug. In only the UK, 7 million disposable coffee cups are used every day. On top of that, they need to be recycled in specialized facilities, as they are made not from standard paper but from paper lined with plastic to provide waterproofness. It's estimated that less than 1% of disposable cups are recycled. Not to mention the plastic lids, sleeves, or stirrers.

Refuse the plastic straws or change to those made from paper or steel. For most people (excluding hospital patients), drinking with a straw is not a must. Did you know that plastic straws make up ~4% of plastic trash by piece? Of course far less by weight, as they weigh approximately 0.18 oz (0.5 g), but this doesn't stop them from clogging up our oceans. Take this small step and boycott plastic straws today.

Use refill packets instead of buying new bottles every time. Whenever possible, choose products that generate less plastic waste. You can check with our plastic footprint calculator how much plastic you will 'save' when using refill packets. It's around four times less, as detergent bottles are usually made from heavier HDPE (high-density polyethylene).

Carry your own water bottle. Choose a reusable plastic or glass bottle. Your footprint will be reduced, and you will be shocked at how much you can save if you drop the bottled water! Check our tap water calculator to find out what substantial savings result you can get from such a tiny change.

Don't wait any longer. Reuse or repurpose plastic change your habits today: Check our kaya identity calculator to understand how to quantify our impact, or find out what's your flight carbon footprint and try to live a greener life.

To calculate your plastic footprint, consider the following sources of pollution:

1. Single-use plastic products for food and beverages.

2. Packaging and plastic containers for cleaning and hygiene products.

3. Food packaging from the grocery store.

4. On a longer timescale, toys and larger pieces of plastic.

5. Add up the weights of all the items you used.

6. Multiply the quantities according to the timeframe (e.g., 52 times if you counted the items used in a week) to measure how much plastic you use each year.

Plastic is an excellent material: moldable, strong, and durable. Maybe too strong and durable. The plastic you use rarely gets recycled (as it's tough to do so) and takes a lot of time to degrade into something not as detrimental to the environment.

The plastic you use today loiters around for more time than you'll do: be conscious about your plastic footprint, the amount of plastic you use and dispose of, and try to reduce your impact on the Planet!

Less than 10% of the plastic we throw away is recycled. Why?

1. There are many types of plastic, and we can recycle only some of them.

2. Plastic recycling is energy-intensive, and waste transportation is even more.

3. Plastic segregated by people is often not clean enough to undergo recycling.

Most of the time, the best strategy is to reduce the use of plastic, more than betting on recycling it!

To reduce your plastic footprint, follow the four "R"s rule:

1. Refuse - If you can, say "no" to plastic. You can bring your own cup to the coffee shop!

2. Reduce - Choose the products and companies that reduce their use of plastic.

3. Reuse - Avoid single-use plastic, use your bags till they break, and wash all your containers!

4. Recycle - If you have to throw away something, segregate it and give it a chance to be recycled!

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Plastic Footprint Calculator - Check Your Environmental Impact

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Find out how much plastic you use throughout the year with this plastic footprint calculator. Rethink your habits, reduce your plastic waste, and make your life a little greener.

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A Plastic Wave - A documentary film on plastic pollution

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360° virtual reality Scotland expedition #EndOceanPlastics

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Plastic in paradise: the battle for the Galápagos Islands' future

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Plastic oceans: a true global emergency | Craig Leeson | TEDxPitic

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See wave of garbage crash off the Dominican Republic

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And it's getting worse. Without a global response, there could be more plastic in the sea than fish by 2050. We need urgent action at the UN to stop the catastrophic decline of nature - including an immediate agreement which will stop the leakage of plastics into the oceans.

Every single country is part of this plastics crisis. And every single one must be part of the solution: we need a united global response, with the world's governments made accountable for ending marine plastics pollution.

By coming together to tackle plastic pollution, we can show that powerful, collective action to restore nature is possible.

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And it's getting worse. Without a global response, there could be more plastic in the sea than fish by 2050. We need urgent action at the UN to stop the catastrophic decline of nature - including an immediate agreement which will stop the leakage of plastics into the oceans.

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Take Personal Responsibility to End Plastic Pollution

Currently about 300 million tons of plastic are produced each year to make bags, bottles, packages, and other commodities for people all over the world. Unfortunately, only about ten percent of this plastic is properly recycled and reused. The rest ends up as waste in landfills or as litter in our natural environment, where it leaches dangerous chemicals into the nearby soil and water, endangering humans and wildlife alike.

Earth Day Network is asking governments, businesses, and individuals to End Plastic Pollution. Plastic pollution is not only impacting our waters and marine life, but also the food chain and our overall health. Earth Day Network is mobilizing key actors and institutions and citizens across the globe to bring about a new level of consciousness about plastics pollution and a paradigm shift.

The world must perceive plastics not only as the environmental challenge of global proportions but a symbol of the values that need to change to build a more sustainable and just world.

- Learn and Act Using our Toolkits!
- Organize an Event
- Host a Teach-In
- Donate to our Campaign
- Register to Receive More Information
Click here to learn more.

Make a pledge to reduce your use of plastic and join the campaign to End Plastic Pollution!

Join the movement

Help power the movement

Stay Connected

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Pledge to End Plastic Pollution | Earth Day Network

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Currently about 300 million tons of plastic are produced each year to make bags, bottles, packages, and other commodities for people all over the world. Unfortunately, only about ten percent of this plastic is properly recycled and reused.

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TAKE ACTION - Plastic Pollution Coalition

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Plastic Pollution Coalition is a project of Earth Island Institute, a 501(c)3, non-profit organization, organized and existing under the laws of California (Federal Tax ID #94-2889684), located at: