Environmentalist an anti-plastic envoy
TWO Oceans Aquarium environmental campaigner Hayley McLellan’s appointment as an ambassador of the prestigious 5 Gyres Institute will allow the aquarium to network more effectively in fighting the marine life-throttling plastic polluting of the world’s oceans.
The institute, which was founded in 2008, is an NGO in special consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council.
It encourages science-driven change in eradicating plastic pollution and the products and actions that create it.
Reacting during a Cape Times interview to her appointment as an ambassador, of which there were only five on the African continent, McLellan said: “I’m totally comfortable with the opportunity, because it means there is one more voice out there for the oceans. It allows the aquarium to network even more effectively than before.”
Initially excited, McLellan said the realisation quickly dawned on her about the responsibility entrusted to her.
On her role, she said: “The work is about letting people know about a subject (involving the extent of pollution of the world’s oceans) they wouldn’t necessarily have much knowledge about and to open their eyes on what they can do with simple solutions.
“So far, human beings have had a negative impact on this vast body of water called the sea, but when people know the facts about how (negatively) our lifestyles are impacting on the oceans, then it’s much easier to engage them on (being part of) solutions.”
McLellan launched the “Rethink the Plastic Bag” campaign in 2011, with the aim of creating a plastic shopping bag-free South Africa.
“We use about 8 billion plastic shopping bags in South Africa every year, and 96% of these end up in landfill sites.
“The lifespan of a plastic bag is 1 000 years and more, because plastic is made to last,” she said.
In 2008 5 Gyres Institute scientists sailing from Hawaii to Los Angeles collected samples of broken down plastics mixed with marine life and noticed small fish feeding on the contaminated plastic waste after mistaking it for food.
These fish were then consumed by larger predators, resulting in the toxins working their way up the food chain on to humans’ plates, according to the scientists.