Have you ever wondered what is happening to the plastic we throw away?
There is much of this plastic waste in our waterways, and the marine life is suffering from the millions of tonnes of plastic waste which ends up in the canals, streams, lakes and oceans every year. Boaters wouldn’t be able to avoid seeing the plastic waste build up along the riverbanks or floating around the leisure moorings.
The truth is that plastic pollution has become an epidemic that needs to be taken seriously. Some plastic items can take hundreds of years to degrade, in fact water bottles take up to 450 years to break down.
It is estimated the UK has generated nearly 5 million tonnes of plastic waste. And when you then consider the world’s population (currently over 7 billion) has produced a scary 320 million tonnes of plastic, what effect is this having on our planet? If we continue at the current rate of generating plastic waste, this figure could double to over 600 million by 2034.
Although many may assume that the big companies are to be blamed for the plastic entering our waterways, actually 30.4% of the waste comes from the public. And there is plenty we can do to help raise awareness and prevent plastic in our waterways.
