Clearing plastic from seas must wait, say greens
CLEARING millions of tons of plastic in the oceans is a job for future generations, say campaigners.
The urgent task now is to “turn off the tap” to stop further pollution, they argue.
Public focus last year on the devastation caused by plastic pollution, largely due to the powerful images in Sir David Attenborough’s Blue Planet II BBC TV documentary showing sea creatures trapped in plastic rubbish, led to a raft of measures.
“Single-use” was named by Collins dictionary as word of the year and dozens of possible strategies to cut back on plastic were announced by the Government.
Major brands including McDonald’s, Wetherspoons and Costa began phasing out plastic straws.
And there was more progress last month when the European parliament announced a ban on a raft of single-use plastic items such
‘We must turn off tap and stop fouling oceans’
as cutlery, cotton buds, drink stirrers and polystyrene food containers due to come into force in 2021.
But scientists at the Herefordshire-based Marine Conservation Society (MCS) fear promises made in 2018 could be shelved by a Government in crisis.
Oceanographer Dr Laura Foster, of MCS, said the only way to maintain momentum is to incentivise change.
Speaking to the Press Association, she said: “In 2018, we’ve been referring to the Blue Planet II effect. It really brought it into people’s homes beyond those who are linked to conservation.”
Dr Foster added: “The most important thing should be to look at stopping the amount going into the ocean. Think of an overflowing bath with the taps on full blast.
“We’re trying to bail with a teaspoon and wondering why that’s not having an effect.
“We need to focus on stopping things going into the ocean in the first place and it may be that future generations look at a clean-up.”
She added: “We need to incentivise. As soon as you give an empty container a value such as a deposit return scheme on bottles and cans you will see people’s behaviour change.”
Ocean plastic is worth less than single-use rubbish salvaged on land which also hampers sea clean-up efforts. Dr Foster said: “If this was a high value product, there would be an investment to try to retrieve it.”
MCS saw record numbers of people join its beach cleans and all over the world there were headlines about plans to reverse the destruction caused by plastic.
But without drastic change to the way we consume plastic accompanied by strong laws, MCS believes piecemeal efforts to undo the damage done are doomed.
Recycling rates have stagnated for several years although the Government is considering a deposit return scheme for bottles and cans and also plans for manufacturers to bear the cost of the waste they produce.
MCS hopes that if 2018 was the year of awareness of the plastic menace, 2019 will be the year for change and among other projects it will campaign to make the muchtalked of plastic bottle deposit return scheme a reality, it said.
Dr Foster said: “We need systematic change. We’ve accepted there really is an issue – 2019 needs to be the year we really take action.”