At the 4th Asia Pacific Coral Reef Symposium we heard from leading professors, from around the global who were in The Philippines to discuss the coral reef die offs occurring around the earth.
All mentioned plastics as a leading concern. Everyone in the room had reusable bottles, coffee cups and the event was well run by The Marco Polo in Cebu, with NO single use plastics.
The Philippines is in an extremely sticky situation with plastics, with a "sachet culture" i.e. everything coming single use, even everyday shampoo in the supermarket. But it also has a lack of drinking water or sanitation in some areas, with a population largely earning about 100 Pesos a day- which equates to about £1.30. In order to drink clean water, in some areas the population has to buy bottled water. They mostly buy big bubbler bottles- and they are common on the streets, where it is 1 peso to fill your bottle.
They are at the receiving end of a fair amount of hate about plastic. They are the third biggest contributor to ocean plastic on the planet.
But on my return to the UK I was both excited and disappointed on the UK's stance on plastic. It is common place in the news, TV, social media. But the supermarkets all produce a huge amount of plastic- most of it completely unrecyclable.
People of Britain. It IS possible to shop with less plastic. And you and I have a big responsibility to do that. We are fortunate enough to have clean water on tap, supermarkets filled with beautiful produce. Lets vote with our pockets and show the supermarkets that we care about the planet we leave for our children and grandchildren.
Would you like us to do a "plastic free" shop in Tescos/ Asda/ Waitrose article?