Heartfelt appeal to show a little love for the environment

Imagine the scene: it’s Valentine’s Day, you’re wearing your good clothes for when you really want to look like you’ve made an effort.

You sit in a restaurant opposite your significant other. You stare into their eyes. ‘This year, darling,’ you say, ‘to show you I love you, I’ve bought you this.’ You hand over the gift.

‘Oh wow, thank you!’ they say. ‘But what is it?’

‘I’ve got you the needless endangerment of a marine mammal,’ you say enthusiastically, ‘and the plastic it comes wrapped in will last forever. Just like our love.’

Each year, February 14 brings forth a spend-a-geddon of consumerism in an attempt to woo, charm and show that special someone we love them. The UK spent just short of £1.5 billion on their 2019 Valentine’s celebrations with each gift intricately wrapped and packaged in often non-recyclable materials.

The results of the 2019 Great British Beach Clean have shown that on average we find 558 pieces of litter on every 100m stretch of UK beach, with plastic still being by far the worst offender. A truckload of plastic enters our oceans every minute and supermarkets are churning out 800,000 tonnes of the stuff each year in the UK alone.

The solution is clear: we need to stop creating as much stuff to be wasted. Spending £1.5 billion on plastic love hearts is not the way to achieve this.

So why not this year reconsider buying that teddy bear for a fully grown adult? Why not cook your other half a meal, go to a concert, or go somewhere romantic? Create lasting memories with your loved ones before the incredible marine life we enjoy in Scotland is only that – a memory.

By Ben Appleby, Beach and Marine Litter Project worker for The GRAB Trust (Group for Recycling in Argyll and Bute).