THE SEA IS IN MY BLOOD. WE HAVE TO STOP WITH TRASHING PLASTIC IT
THe sea is in my blood. My father made his living as a fish merchant, as did his father before him. Generations of Goves have gone to sea, harvested its riches and fed families with the healthiest — and most renewable — resource on the planet, our fish.
and while my attachment to the sea springs from my family background, I know that it is shared across our island nation by millions.
Our maritime history is part of our collective character. Our coastline is loved by those who visit it for its beauty and wildlife. and our marine environment is cherished by us all.
Which is just one of the reasons why David attenborough’s majestic series Blue Planet II was always going to attract millions of viewers. His passion for the environment, his gift for explanation and analysis, and the amazing film-making artistry he and his colleague Orla Doherty bring to their project are compelling. and there is something both very beautiful and also vulnerable about the wildlife in our seas and oceans.
Just how vulnerable has become powerfully clear as the series has developed. Sir David has shown us how mankind, having depended on the seas for food and growth throughout our existence is now, literally, trashing the oceans.
Our extravagant and wasteful ways are wreaking havoc on marine wildlife. There is a surge of plastic clogging our rivers and oceans. It is vital that we do more to deal with the threat to the oceans, our single greatest natural asset.
In the UK alone, the amount of single-use plastic wasted every year would fill 1,000 Royal albert Halls.
It is easy to see why industry uses plastic in such quantities. It’s versatile and practical. Lightweight but hard-wearing. and there’s the problem. It doesn’t break down, either in landfill or in our seas. across the world, more than a million birds and over 100,000 other sea mammals and turtles die every year from eating and getting tangled up in plastic waste.
We know that plastic clogs the digestive systems of sea life, and affects growth and reproduction rates. Some plastics are laced with chemicals, added during their manufacture. Others bond with organic chemical pollutants once they are in contact with seawater.
Wecan be in no doubt: they are causing catastrophic damage to the fragile and complex marine ecosystem.
There is a growing call for action, from lobby groups such as the WWF and Greenpeace and not least the Daily Mail, which is leading a campaign against plastic waste. When it comes to helping to protect and enhance our natural world, everyone — from Government and industry to consumers — has a part to play.
That is why today, I am hosting a summit of leading retailers and manufacturers, including Waitrose, Tesco, Marks & Spencer and Premier Inn, to discuss how we might go about reducing single-use plastics — taking advantage, perhaps, of the innovative substitutes that are being worked on in response to growing consumer concerns.
Last week, the Treasury announced a consultation on how we can use tax and charges to encourage a reduction in single-use plastics.
at the Department for environment, Food & Rural affairs (Defra) we are looking at ideas being used in other countries, including bottle deposit return schemes, greater access to water fountains and incentives to encourage reusable coffee cups.
and we know that the right sort of action can work. The Mail was at the forefront of those calling for a 5p levy on single-use plastic bags. Since it was introduced in 2015, nine billion fewer such bags have been used, a reduction of 83 per cent. The charge has also raised £95 million for good causes, all with the endorsement of consumers and businesses.
We are also introducing a ban on the plastic microbeads in cosmetic and personal care products that can be particularly harmful to marine life.
We are often oblivious to their existence, but one shower alone can send 100,000 microbeads into the water system and, in the end, into the beautiful marine life that graces our TV screens on a Sunday night.
Plastic microbeads are not just harmful, they are unnecessary. natural alternatives that achieve the same ‘skin-scruffing’ effect are readily available, and manufacturers have already shown their willingness to use shells, salt and sugar instead.
When the ban on manufacturing comes into force in January 2018, and on sales in July 2018, we will be stopping billions of tiny beads from washing down the drain every year: campaigners call this the strongest microbeads ban in the world.
However, there is still so much more we can do. In particular, we must tackle the mountains of waste from plastic bottles and drinks containers.
EacHyear, global softdrinks giants alone produce hundreds of billions of plastic bottles each. In the UK, we know that only 57 per cent of plastic bottles were recycled in 2016 — a disappointing figure.
We have to make sure that we use fewer plastic bottles, recycle them better and, most crucially, stop them from ending up on our beaches and riverbanks, in our seas and rivers, causing terrible damage to wildlife as well as blighting the landscape.
It is alarming that 80 per cent of plastic waste in the oceans was originally discarded on land before washing out to sea. Today, at this meeting, we will be looking at ways to counter this trend and to incentivise different kinds of behaviour. I want to pay tribute to the many fantastic schemes doing brilliant work from the ground up. The Great British Beach clean, for example, is an inspiring effort by 900 organisers across the UK to do their bit to get the trash off our beaches.
But we can’t leave this challenge to volunteers alone. Government has a critical role to play. It is no exaggeration to say that I have been haunted by Blue Planet II. Partly, because of my background growing up by — and living on the riches yielded from — the sea. But more because I know that I have a responsibility as environment Secretary to act. We need to protect and enhance the natural world and hand on our world to the next generation in a better state.
That’s why we need to introduce new measures to stop the tide of plastic choking our oceans and, with the help of Mail readers, that is what the Government intends to do. In the weeks ahead we’ll be launching a 25-Year Plan For The environment with measures to protect our oceans and clean up our seas at its heart.
It is the very least we owe to our Blue Planet.