Campaigns, Charities, Environment Related, How To, Miscellaneous, Politically Yours, Social Networking, UK Related
"Stop marine plastic pollution by introducing a small, refundable deposit on all plastic bottles, glass bottles and cans to recycle the 16 million plastic bottles thrown away every day."
The following is an email I've recently received from the peeps at 38Degrees.org... It's about an interesting idea on how to reduce the marine plastic pollution. Worth a read (even if you don't live in the UK). Those of you who live in the UK are (obviously) very welcome to read that email
and sign the petition. Thanks in advance :-)
Loup Dargent
The Email:
"Dear Loup,
Plastic bottles are littering our high streets, parks and beaches. They don't rot, so they end up clogging up landfill sites and the sea. [1]
Right now, the government is drawing up a plan to tackle litter in Britain. [2] And there's a simple solution. They're considering starting a bottle deposit scheme: 10p is added to the price of a drink and if you return the bottle you get the money back. It would mean that millions of bottles would get recycled.
But they haven't made up their mind yet, and sugary drinks company lobbyists are pushing hard to get them to drop the idea. [3] A huge petition would prove to the government the public supports it, and could convince them to introduce the scheme.
'Surfers Against Sewage ' are an environmental charity - and they've started a petition on the 38 Degrees website. [4] Can you add your name now? It takes less than a minute:
Plastic pollution is a huge problem, and a bottle exchange might feel like a small step. But from the 5p plastic bag charge to persuading supermarkets to switch to paper cotton buds, these little changes are adding up. It means we're turning the tide on plastic litter and pollution. [5]
Other countries are already using bottle deposits to tackle plastic pollution. In Norway, 96% of bottles are returned by people for recycling. [5] We can clean up Britain's towns, cities and beaches too. But first, we need to show the government that thousands of us want a bottle deposit scheme.
Lorna, Trish, Robin and the 38 Degrees team"
[1] BBC: Plastic bottle litter on beaches up 43%, conservationists say:
[2] The Telegraph:Plastic bottle 'tax' could be introduced to tackle waste:
[3] You can read the Greenpeace investigation here:
[4] You can find about more about Surfers Against Sewage here:
[5] The Guardian: England plastic bag usage drops 85% since 5p charge introduced:
The Guardian: Tesco and Sainsbury's ban plastic cotton buds:
[6] Sky News: Sky Ocean Rescue: How bottle deposit scheme boosts recycling: