65 member organisations from over 50 countries ran innovative and path-breaking campaigns helping consumers to rethink, refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle, repair and replace plastic products in their everyday lives. 19 members held educational workshops with consumers and many more involved consumers directly in practical activities.
Why shout about plastic pollution?
Plastic is an incredibly adaptable and useful material. But the global production and consumption of plastics is now completely unsustainable, and shows no sign of slowing down.
The Pew Charitable Trusts & SYSTEMIQ report last year, Breaking the Plastic Wave, calculates that the flow of plastics into the ocean will triple by 2040 if we continue with business as usual. Since plastic is made from fossil fuel, by this date the industry will use up 19% of the planet’s total carbon budget.