Hello! So great to have you here. You probably know a little about the plastic waste crisis. Sadly it’s worse than you think….
⅔ of our blue planet is covered by a stunningly beautiful ocean. The whole of the ecosystems of the world are based on a healthy ocean. But over the last 50 years we have filled the oceans with plastic. Plastic that does not go anywhere. Plastic that breaks up into lots of little pieces called microplastics.
You can now take a sample of water from anywhere in the ocean and it will contain microplastics. In the large circular currents called gyres, that sit in the centre of our major oceans, you can pass a sieve through the water and pull handfuls of microplastics out.
In these areas of the sea most fish and seabirds contain plastic. It is killing them. And if you cut them open they are stuffed full of plastic. This is clearly not OK.
And yet 300 millions tonnes of plastic waste is made annually and at least 8 million tons of plastic a year continues to go into the ocean. Here in the UK only 10% of the plastic you put into your recycling bin is actually recycled. The rest is sent to landfill, incineration, export or the natural environment.
And of course this is also impacting the whole ecosystem and ultimately humans who sit at the top of the food chain. Around 25% of the fish we are eating has plastic in it. The health impacts of this are still being researched, but it could be that this plastic is acting as a magnate and carrier for toxins, which will be causing serious harm.
So, we have to act now to stem the tide of plastic flowing into the natural environment. We need to be creative about coming up with solutions and different ways of living. There are plenty of solutions out there, Bower Collective’s closed loop packaging is just one of them. But what is for sure is we can’t do this alone.
We need to come together, so we can push governments and businesses to change. Together the small changes we individually make can add up to something that makes a dent in this problem.
So I would love to invite you to join the Collective!
We’re a group of over 100,000 people who are passionate about solving the plastic waste crisis. We care passionately about sustainability and want to put our money where their mouth is when it comes to shopping. The Collective is your community bringing together people to tackle plastic waste.
Join us to be part of a movement of optimism and activism around plastic waste. Lets do this!
