16 Oct 2018

Thames Water and the Mayor of London have announced a joint venture to majorly boost the number of water fountains in London. Each contributing £2.5m to fund, the scheme will help to tackle the issue of single-use plastic in the capital. A network of hundreds of free public water fountains will be available across busy […]

10 Sep 2018

Guardian – Global soft drink companies have made their biggest commitment yet to eliminating the use of throwaway plastic bottles, in an action plan presented to parliament. In a report sponsored by the likes of Danone, Suntory and Nestlé, the companies give unequivocal backing to a government-implemented deposit and return scheme. Their ambition is for […]

10 Sep 2018

There is a great deal of coverage of the full scale trial of the Boyan Slat boom technology (Ocean Clean Up) and its deployment in the Pacific Garbage patch. One wonders given the high level of fishing net amongst this debris whether a different – hook and catch technology – linked to a Net Works […]

09 Apr 2018

Marine litter presents a global problem, with increasing quantities documented in recent decades. The distribution and abundance of marine litter on the seafloor off the United Kingdom’s (UK) coasts were quantified during 39 independent scientific surveys conducted between 1992 and 2017. Widespread distribution of litter items, especially plastics, were found on the seabed of the […]

12 Mar 2018

Posted on March 7, 2018 by Chris Rose An overwhelming majority of the UK public wants to see plastic phased out except for essential uses, according to a survey of over 1000 people reported here.  83.9% agreed that ‘Because of the pollution/harm it causes, plastic should be phased out except for essential uses’ in a nationally representative survey […]

19 Feb 2018

A set of draft Voluntary Guideline on marking fishing gear have been adopted by countries to monitor the use of fishing gear which is predominant made from plastic. Approximately eight million tonnes of plastic litter, up to 10 per cent of which is estimated to come from the fisheries sector, ends up in oceans every […]

08 Feb 2018

BBC – Watch the video – really clear Advisers to government say the schemes have massively reduced plastic litter in the environment and seas. And a ministerial delegation has been to Norway to see if the UK should copy an industry-led scheme that recycles 97% of bottles. In the UK, figures show that only around […]

25 Jan 2018

Water UK ‘People will be able to refill water bottles for free in tens of thousands of places in England in future following the announcement of a new national scheme by the water industry today (Thursday 25th January 2018). It’s estimated that the new scheme will cut plastic bottle use by tens of millions each […]