An estimated one million plastic bottles enter the sea every minute. Every minute. According to Euromonitor, quoted by the Guardian, humans produce almost 20,000 plastic bottles every second, and it’s estimated that around one-third of those ends up in the sea.

And that’s just the bottles. It’s not the food packaging or other significant plastic waste that we work our way through every day.

So it’s not surprising that the huge amount of plastic in our waterways and seas is having a huge impact on marine life. There’s an area of sea called the ‘plastisphere’. It’s a massive congregation of plastic waste and it’s estimated to cover an area roughly twice the size of France, and has been categorized as its own ecosystem.

Plastic in the sea is harmful. It injures sea life – there have been plenty of reports about turtles, dolphins and sea birds getting tricked into thinking it is food, or getting trapped and injured by plastic waste. In addition to recognisable plastics, like drinks bottles, there is also a significant quantity of microplastics – tiny pieces of plastic that come off your clothes in the wash, for example. Once it gets ingested by fish and shellfish in the food chain, it gets into our own diet.

What can you do?

The only way to absolutely make sure that you’re not contributing to this problem is to stop using plastic altogether. That’s easier said than done – plastic is in a high proportion of the things we use every day. But there are things you can do straight away to reduce your impact:

Buy a reusable drinks bottle – instead of buying bottled water every day, just buy a reusable bottle and fill it up from the tap or your filter jug. Insulated bottles are everywhere now, and they keep your drinks cool. There’s also an app, Refill, which shows you where there are shops or water points nearby, so you can refill your bottle while you’re out. The same applies for hot drinks – get yourself a reusable cup and avoid using takeaway coffee-shop cups, which are not recyclable. Many coffee shops offer a discount if you bring your own cup.

Look for sustainable packaging – an increasing number of food brands are thinking more carefully about their packaging. They are replacing plastic with recyclable, compostable or biodegradable materials, meaning that there’s less waste all round. For example, our client New Kings Coffee – an organic coffee business whose ranges include Barista Brew coffee bags – uses resealable and recyclable packaging. Its coffee bags are 100% biodegradable and can be put in food waste bins. Other sachets can be returned to the company for TerraCycle recycling, and the company’s boxes are biodegradable and made from 100% ECF pulp. New Kings Coffee also has its own charity – Grounds for Health – which donates a proportion of product sales to go towards helping the people and communities in the coffee-growing regions where the company sources its products.

Avoid disposable plastics – straws, cutlery, glasses and coated cardboard plates are all common disposable plastics that you can start to avoid straight away. Many retailers have moved to recyclable cutlery for takeaway food, and you don’t really need a straw most of the time. Take a couple of seconds to think about whether you really need that plastic fork.

Carry your own shopping bags – plastic bags are one of the most ubiquitous pieces of plastic waste. There are plenty of alternatives now – even if it’s just re-using a plastic bag you already have. Set yourself the challenge of not adding new plastic bags to your collection, and always having one with you if you can.

Do a two minute plastic clean – this started on UK beaches, but you can do it anywhere: the park, by the river, in your street. Just take two minutes to collect up any littered plastic and recycle it if you can in your own recycle bins, or in public recycle bins. This will help to reduce the amount of plastic that reaches our waterways.

You can find out more about the UK’s marine environment and how you can help to protect it by taking a look at the Marine Conservation Society’s website. And you can find out more about promoting your sustainable food and drink products by contacting us today!