Today Defra have revealed that all rivers have failed to meet legally-binding pollution quality test with a woeful 14% meeting good ecological status – no improvement to figures released in 2016. And no river meets good chemical status, suggesting that pollution from sewage discharges, chemicals and runoff from agriculture are still having devastating impacts on […]
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Finally, a Supermarket Taking Action. We Join Iceland’s #OnePlasticFootprint Callout.
We’re joining forces with Iceland, Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and A Plastic Planet to call on business to commit to transparency in reporting their plastic usage, and for the Government to mandate plastic reporting and pollution reduction targets. “We believe that setting plastic pollution reduction targets in the Environment Bill will help drive the […]
MPs Come Together to Support Ocean Recovery that Works for People and the Planet
MPs from across the political spectrum came together today with marine experts from Surfers Against Sewage, Cornwall Wildlife Trust, the World Wildlife Fund, and the Marine Conservation Society for the Ocean Conservation All-Party Parliamentary Group’s first ever digital meeting. Central to the discussion was the opportunity for ocean recovery as we emerge from the health […]
When Is A Beach Clean Not A Beach Clean?
When it’s a river, street or mountain clean of course! Although we don’t all live by the coast we can all be beach cleaners, from summit to sea. Much of the plastic pollution found on our beaches may very well have originally ended the useable part of its life in our towns or cities. Sometimes […]
The Environment Bill: Getting the Targets Right.
This morning the government published its proposals for new Environmental Targets which will be set through the Environment Bill. These targets will help to drive forward government policy and investment from private companies over the next decade so its super important that government gets these targets right. Government will set at least one long-term target […]
Ocean Activists Unite for Post-Lockdown Plastic Protest
From the 5th September to the 18th October ‘The Generation Sea: Plastic Protest’ will see communities take part in six grassroots actions designed to challenge the manufacturers of unnecessary, single-use plastics, change public perception and demand stronger legislation from the government. Since lockdown has been lifted there has been an explosion of plastic pollution on our […]
Reps Case Study: Southampton Nurdle Campaign
This report details the investigation carried out by Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) Reps, Katrina Ayling (author) and Mairin Williams, into the plastic pollution at Chessel Bay nature reserve Southampton, the subsequent investigation at three plastic factories located near the bay, how this was evidenced and reported to the authorities. It will also detail the subsequent […]
100 Plastic Free Communities
As Plastic Free Communities celebrates its 100th approved location and 700th sign-up, we take a look back at the campaign and the growing grassroots movement which is inspiring thousands of businesses, community groups and individuals across the UK. Whether onshore or inland, low tide or high rise, hundreds of communities are using our five-point plan […]
How to reduce single-use plastic in the pandemic. #LessPlasticPlease
This Plastic Free July is really important. It’s happening just as huge plastic polluters are using the pandemic to roll back hard-won victories on plastic pollution. But we can resist their attempts to create another wave of avoidable plastic. There are changes we can make in our lives to reduce the amount of single-use, avoidable […]
The Blue Recovery: Our response to the Summer Economic Update
Last week we got a first look at what the government’s plans for our recovery from the global health crisis are. The Prime Minister’s plans to ‘Build, Build, Build’ our way out of the crisis seemed to willfully ignore shouts not to return to business as usual and instead look to new models and […]
