Plastic Free July

History

Plastic Free July is an international movement designed to educate millions of people to reduce their plastic waste.  The inspiration behind it is that even if one person makes just one small change collectively it will make a massive difference to the world we live in.

Source: Google

It is so inspiring that it has captured over 250 million participants in over 177 countries!

Shocking Ocean Plastic Statistics:

The visibility of plastic waste pollution is increasing because of its accumulation in recent decades and unlike organic waste, plastic can take hundreds to thousands of years to decompose in nature.

Source: Google

The shocking statistics highlighted below show just how severe this problem is getting:

• More than 1 million seabirds and 100,000 marine animals die from plastic pollution every year.
• 100% of baby sea turtles have plastic in their stomachs.
• There is now 25 trillionmacro and micro pieces of plastic in our ocean & 46,000 pieces in every square mile of ocean, weighing up to 269,000 tonnes.
• Every day around 8 million pieces of plastic makes their way into our oceans.
• The world produces 381 million tonnes in plastic waste yearly – this is set to double by 2034.
• Over 2 million tonnes of plastic packaging are used in the UK each year.
• 88% of the sea's surfaceis polluted by plastic waste.
• Between 8 to 14 million tonnes enters our ocean every year.
• Britain contributes an estimated 7 million tonnes of plastic annually.
• Plastic packaging is the biggest culprit, resulting in 80 million tonnes of waste yearly from the US alone.
• On UK beaches there are 5000 pieces of plastic & 150 plastic bottles for each mile.
• More than 1 million plastic bags end up in rubbish bins every minute.
• The world uses over 500 billion plastic bags a year – that’s 150 for each person on Earth.
• 3 billion plastic straws pollute the world’s beaches, but only 1% of straws end up as waste in the ocean.
• By 2020 the number of plastics in the sea will be higher than the number of fish.
• 1 in 3 fish caught for human consumption contains plastic.

Source: https://bit.ly/3gtPgWi

Source: Google

What can we do about it? – Take the Challenge!

Visit https://bit.ly/3gqgqgG to sign up to “plastic free July” and enjoy reading stories from other participants and receive the latest plastic-free ideas and tips to help you reduce your own plastic intake and in turn help save the environment.

Beach Clean Ups

One fantastic activity very close to Planet Mermaids heart is a beach clean-up! With the summer holidays soon upon us the desire to visit the beach is ever more luring! Why not make a difference and organise a local clean up or even just spend an hour or so during your trip picking up rubbish that has been washed to shore or left by fellow holiday makers.  You never know if people see you doing such an amazing thing they may offer to help!

Source: Google

Take lots of photos and share them on social media and use the @plasticfreejuly handle along with @PlanetMermaid to promote your amazing work.

Visit www.planetmermaid.com to view our latest in amazing fabric mermaid tails for kids and adults, woman’s mermaid monofins, siren tails, mermaid leggings, mermaid tops, mermaid swimsuits, mermaid gifts and a whole lot more!

Mermaid love to you all

Keep safe!

@plasticfreejuly