Scrap the wrap for a plastic-free day, urge campaigners

GREEN campaigners are hoping millions of people join what they are calling the world’s first plastic-free day today.

They want 250 million people to avoid plastic packaged food and drink products for 24 hours to mark World Environment Day.

The One Plastic Free Day initiative is backed by celebrities including adventurer Ben Fogle.

It focuses attention on the growing calls to stem the tide of plastic pollution, organisers A Plastic Planet said.

People are being urged to take a photo of the plastic-packaged products they are giving up and share it on social media, saying why they have been inspired to “PassOnPlastic”.

Campaigners also hope international companies will be inspired to make pledges to cut their plastic footprint.

Sian Sutherland, a co-founder of A Plastic Planet, said: “One Plastic Free Day will touch the lives of millions of people around the world. Across every continent, people are waking up to the fact that plastic has absolutely no place in food and drink.

“Where is the logic in wrapping something as fleeting as food in something as indestructible as plastic?

“Our addiction to plastic is this generation’s smoking. For years, we were blissfully unaware of the terrible damage done by throwaway packaging to our oceans, our soil and the health of future generations. Now we know the truth.

Uniting

“One Plastic Free Day is all about uniting the world to turn off the plastic tap. It’s just one day to think twice before reaching for that plastic-wrapped food and drink product.”

Organisations supporting the initiative include Sky Ocean Rescue, Iceland Foods, Time Out and Spotify. Fiona Morgan of Sky Ocean Rescue said: “The world’s first One Plastic Free Day represents a big moment in the fight to stop our oceans from drowning in plastic, and spreading the word.”

Meanwhile, 44 per cent of people do not know tiny plastics known as microfibres are released in their clothes wash, reach rivers and oceans and end up in seafood, a survey said.

The Censuswide poll for green charity Hubbub found many people do not realise that synthetic fabrics such as nylon, polyester or acrylic are plastics, or that plastic microfibres are released from clothing when washed.

The public’s awareness of microfibres was much lower than that of microbeads, another type of tiny plastic, found in products such as sun cream and cleaning liquids, the survey found.

The tiny plastics have been found in foods from mussels and table salt to honey and beer, Hubbub said.