Oceana is addressing the plastic pollution crisis by encouraging companies to take action to reduce plastic production and offer plastic-free choices, and by winning legislation that will reduce single-use plastics in strategic coastal countries around the world that combined account for more than 35% of plastic waste generated each year.
Why we need plastic-free choices to stop plastic pollution in our oceans
A message from Sam Waterston on plastic-free choices
“Our oceans sustain life
An abundant ocean can feed a billion people a healthy meal every day forever
But now they are being killed, filled by throwaway plastics
The equivalent of one garbage truck of garbage is dumped in the sea every minute, 17.6 billion pounds (8 million tons) every year
Plastic is everywhere in our ocean, floating on the surface, mixing in the salt water and sitting on the ocean bottom, miles and miles deep
And once in the ocean it never goes away, for hundreds of years it breaks down into small pieces
But those pieces, even the tiny ones called micro plastics, are still plastic
The Sea Turtles are choking on them
Scientists say that over 60% of whale and dolphin species are affected by them
Zooplankton, the base of the ocean food chain, eat them, and so do we
It’s in the water we drink, it’s in our food
Micro-plastics have been found in our salt, our honey and our beer and sometimes even in the air we breathe
Companies are choosing to make something that will be used just once from a material that lasts forever
If you do not like what throwaway plastics are already doing to our world, brace yourself
We face a tsunami of throwaway plastic in our and the oceans’ future
Four times more plastic will be produced between now and the middle of the century (2050) than has been produced in all of history
FOUR TIMES MORE”
Garbage truck unloading plastic waste in landfill
“What can we do? Recycling?
Of all the plastic ever generated as at 2015 only 9% has been recycled
Even when it is recycled plastic degrades, your plastic soda bottle maybe becomes a shampoo bottle, then a floor mat
Even in the best case, it doesn’t recycle, it down-cycles and then it becomes pollution that ruins our beaches and chokes sea animals forever
We should not be forced to pollute the ocean every time we eat, drink or go shopping
We need to be given a choice, a plastic-free choice
This is not hard to imagine, indeed, some responsible companies are already leading the way
There are throwaway plastic-free isles in super markets
Beverage companies already offer plastic-free soda and salsa bottles
Restaurants offering plastic-free service
There are plastic-free rooms in hotels and an airline is now offering a plastic-free flight
Oceana and our allies are winning plastic-free victories
Following campaigning by Oceana, Peru passed a law that keeps plastics out of national parks and beaches
Belize is getting rid of styrofoam
And the European Union has mandated reductions for throwaway plastic throughout its twenty eight countries
But with your help we can do more
Together we can create a movement to reduce throwaway plastic, we make sure we are all given real plastic-free choices
We can help our cities, schools, towns and workplaces establish zones that are free of throwaway plastic
Let’s stop plastic pollution from wrecking our beaches and our oceans
To have healthy oceans that delight and sustain us for generations to come
Please join our campaign – go to www.oceana.org/plastics today”
Oceana is an international organisation dedicated to protecting and restoring the world’s oceans. Find out more about Oceana, protecting the world’s oceans
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