Too much plastic ending up in our oceans

Every day, our ocean suffers – from overfishing, pollution and a lack of protection. But every day is another chance for us to make a change. Paper Round is delighted to announce that we are working with The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) in 2018.

MCS is the UK’s leading marine charity, working to ensure our seas are healthy, pollution free and protected. They believe that too much is being taken out, and too much is being put into our seas. The MCS team works to reduce the threats to our ocean and build an optimistic future. Their scientists, campaigners, volunteers, advocates, data experts, fundraisers, divers and researchers are all united by the common cause of creating a sustainable future for our seas.
They run several campaigns, with over 1 million people each year joining together to be the voice for our seas.

#WildBottleSighting lobbies for deposit return systems (DRS) to reduce littering of drinks containers on our beaches. Like the plastic bag charge, DRS is a simple idea that can have immediate effects.

#CantFlushThis is fighting against unflushables such as wipes and cotton buds entering our sewers, seas and beaches. According to MCS 8.5% of all beach litter is comprised of unflushables.

And #STOPThePlasticTide, which is the campaign we are directly supporting with our 2018 donation. This campaign sees MCS lobby the government to introduce levies on single-use plastic on-the-go items, and to petition fast-food chains to take action on the single-use plastics they give away.

Last year a study produced by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation revealed some truly disturbing conclusions: the equivalent of one entire truck of plastic (8 tonnes) is dumped in the sea every minute and, if we don’t change things, by 2050 we could have more plastic than fish (by weight) in the sea. The work MCS is doing to protect the future of our oceans and their inhabitants is vital.

We are thrilled to be working with such a fantastic cause and we cannot wait to see what’s in store for 2018.