From city to sea – tackling plastic waste

The statistics are staggering and the numbers inconceivable so, to put them into context, a mass of plastic waste the size of Europe is floating round the world’s oceans causing incalculable damage to marine life and ultimately to ourselves.

It’s estimated that globally 8 million tonnes of litter is dumped in the oceans each year and campaigners in Bristol are calling on the city to lead the way during its year as European Green Capital and stop plastic waste reaching the sea.

You only have to walk along the Avon or the Frome to be struck by the sheer volume of plastic bottles, cotton buds, cups, toys and bags which litter the banks of our rivers, before it is ultimately washed out to sea.

There the plastic attract toxins in the water, as it breaks down into small particles and the plastic can then be ingested by marine life. Once the plastic enters the human food chain some scientists believe the toxins can be linked to widespread health problems.

Television presenter Natalie Fee, founder of City to Sea

Witnessing the huge quantities of plastic waste being washed out along the River Avon following the spring tides in March prompted Made in Bristol television presenter Natalie Fee to launch City to Sea – an organisation dedicated to finding ways to tackle the plastic problem.

Natalie returned to the banks of the River Avon the following week and saw for herself the amount of plastic dumped.

Natalie launched City to Sea and, just six weeks later, at a sold out debate at the Watershed on World Oceans Day, brought together panellists Chris Sherrington from Eunomia, Tom Bell from Changes Us and documentary film maker Jo Ruxton from Plastic Oceans to debate what it will take for us to dump the plastics habit.

Plastic panellists (left to right) Chris Sherrington from Eunomia, Tom Bell from Changes Us and documentary film maker Jo Ruxton from Plastic Oceans

Cotton Buds

Small, innocuous but deadly. Scientists know around half a million cotton buds are flushed into the Thames basin every week and it’s estimated that a similar number may be ending up in the water systems across the South West.

Chris Sherrington wants “action at design stage” as he says there is no need for manufacturers to make them out of plastic and cardboard buds work just as well.

Tom Bell agreed and said he’d picked up thousands of cotton buds during beach cleans: “They are everywhere…I’ve seen nests being built out of them and birds choking on them.”

Plastic bottles

During her two minute challenge on the banks of the Avon Natalie picked up 25 plastic bottles. So is it time for Bristol, as Green Capital, to follow the lead of San Francisco and ban the sale of bottles?

Chris Sherrington was unsure it would work but he felt “a deposit refund on bottles would be very effective”. However, he felt a game changer would be the introduction of water fountains across Bristol. One is opening in Millennium Square this week and, in order to try to secure more funding, an audience member urged everyone to use it to prove there was a demand for free fountains.

Jo Ruxton pointed out that in Germany and Beijing waste plastic has a value. If you return plastic bottles you can help pay for train tickets and get supermarket vouchers.

An audience member said Bude in North Devon had introduced a scheme where, if you have a metal reusable water bottle, cafes and business in the town would refill the bottle free of charge. Here’s more information about Tapwater.org which encourages the use of free refill points.

A representative from the safe water charity Frank Water, based in Montpelier, said their organisation had introduced Freefill at music festivals across the UK where people who buy a metal water bottle could get free refills.

Streets to drains

Plastic rubbish in the river outside the Watershed

With a huge amount of plastic entering our rivers from drains the debate moved on to focus on street litter.

Tom Bell felt that although we have “plenty of laws” on littering they are unenforced and “we could do something (about litter) but we are choosing not to.

“We need to take a lead but unless it’s enforced it is not going to work,” he added.

A Bristol plastics pledge?

So how do we reduce the amount of plastic entering the waterways of Bristol?

Chris Sherrington felt one way would be to introduce a deposit system on single use pint glasses which litter the harbourside especially after a summer evening. He believed a £1 deposit refundable on return would  help to make an immediate difference.

Jo Ruxton said she would like to see an immediate crack down on polystyrene takeaway containers. “The harbourside in the morning is littered with them,” she said. She spoke about seeing huge quantities of polystyrene in the oceans while she was filming and the devastating consequences it was having. “Replace it with cardboard and you will see the difference immediately,” she urged.

Tom Bell called for us to challenge ourselves in Bristol. He spoke about the Plastics Challenge and reducing for a month the amount of single use plastic you use. “If we could adopt this as a city and look at the amount of plastic that we use it could make a fundamental difference.”

The full City to Sea debate will be broadcast on Made in Bristol TV on June 10 and 11 at 8.30pm