An urgent call for action on the relentless plastic epidemic.

Infection, malnutrition and eventual death. This is the reality that our wildlife faces and little is being done to stop it. A growing amount of single use plastic is being abandoned by billions of people, poisoning our planet and the fragile ecosystems within it.  Since its invention 110 years ago, it has become an integral, interwoven part of our everyday life. This magical substance offers industry an effective, cheap, sterile material and it hasn’t been used sparingly. Your water bottles, your food packaging, your polyester clothing, your plastic bags, your reading glasses and so many more items you use daily: they will all continue to plague our planet long after you have disposed of them, never fully decomposing. Although these products allow us to lead a life of convenience, our planet devastatingly is forced to pay the price. 

Theresa May recently proposed a strategy to eradicate all avoidable plastic waste. Seems great right? Except for the part where this will only be put in place 25 years from now. When this year alone the UK will use 10.8 billion wet wipes, 16.5 billion pieces of plastic cutlery and 42 billion plastic straws. This and more will all enter our oceans at a whopping 8 million metric tonnes.  Action simply isn’t being taken fast enough. We don’t need to wrap up our imported coconuts in plastic film, use plastic straws to drink or throw away containers which can easily be washed and reused. So why do we?

700 marine species have been put at risk of extinction solely as a consequence of the all-encompassing impact of plastic pollution.  Albatrosses feed their chicks plastic, mistaking it for squid or fish whilst skimming the surface of the water for food. This waste can puncture the chick’s delicate internal organs resulting in a long, painful, devastating death. Like the Albatross and a myriad of other marine animals, Turtles ingest plastic waste also, particularly plastic bags or balloons. To turtles there is no visible difference to a plastic bag or balloon and a jellyfish. Once the turtle ingests this plastic, death is most likely inevitable. Sometimes the plastic being pumped into the ocean unknowingly happens right underneath our noses. For instance, many of your facial washes or toothpastes contain Microbeads which once drained down the plughole, manifest themselves in marine life’s stomachs and propelling their eventual passing. The level of microplastics are rapidly increasing at an alarming rate and show no sign of depleting any time soon. Worryingly, the amount of microplastic dwarfs the population of plankton, which is a crucial food source for marine wildlife, by the ratio 6:1.  Many more beautiful, majestic creatures’ lives are cruelly stolen by the deadly grasps of this lethal material. But this problem isn’t only affecting the animals.

We all hear about the impact of plastic on wildlife but what about ourselves? With all this litter it’s not very surprising that plastic can be found in our very own bodies at this very moment. In teenagers, more than 80% of us have ingested this toxic material, putting us at a potential risk of detrimental liver and kidney problems. So why has this plastic epidemic been unaddressed for so long?

Its obvious that this problem has reached an unprecedented, harrowing level and we cannot keep turning a blind eye towards this profusely damaging issue. If it is being neglected by our own government, we must take matters into our own hands. Its not our fault that manufacturers wrap nearly all their produce with plastic, its not our fault that restaurants and cafes serve all their drinks with straws and its not our fault that so many of the things we buy contain some sort of plastic. Yet, there are a plethora of things we can do to cut down our own waste and potentially save lives and our precious Earth in the process.

Firstly, reuse your plastic containers. If it can be washed and you can find it a new purpose, why chuck it away? Check your toothpaste and facewash for Microbeads before you buy. Try to avoid wearing polyester and synthetic fabrics and, if you have the opportunity and not all the clothes are horrifically outdated, shop second hand! If you happen to be out for dinner ask your waiter if you could have your drink without a straw or when taking a coffee to go, avoid taking the plastic cover.

There are many more ways to reduce needless plastic waste and at a small price to pay in exchange for our sacred environment. The effects of this predicament can be reversible if we try to reduce our waste either for the planet, the wildlife and ourselves. Today, we can make a change.