Who are the 'worst offenders' when it comes to the packaging pollution emergency on our beaches?

Last month's action by Surfers Against Sewage was very successful:
Futures Forum: The Big Spring Beach Clean > a record-smashing 45,771 people showed up

And the biggest catches were from some of the biggest manufacturers: 

Coke, Pepsi and the rest Revealed: the WORST offenders when it comes to the packaging pollution emergency on our beaches. 45,000 of you turned out for the biggest Spring Beach Clean ever -- but you didn’t just tidy up our beauty spots. You carefully categorised and counted up exactly what you found. And now we’ve analysed all the data. 2019’s worst companies for packaging pollution on our beaches are: Coca Cola.  Walkers and Pepsi owner PepsiCo. Cadbury’s owner Mondelez.  McDonald’s…. and Nestlé. We’ve sent a detailed report to the government who’re considering action. Can you help us sound the alarm and demand these companies clean up their act?

It’s been an exciting rollercoaster lately in the Surfers Against Sewage office. Thank you so much for watching and sharing ‘The Creature’ our film designed to inspire more people to join the #GenerationSea movement. It worked! More than a quarter of a million people have watched ‘The Creature’, it has been shared with more than 5 million people on social media and the number of signatures on our petition to the government has nearly doubled! Behind every name is an individual with skills and ideas to build this movement and help turn the tide for ocean life. Now it’s time we took this fight to the corporations. They’re making huge profits from cheap throwaway packaging while turtles, seals, whales and birds pay the price. Share to sound the alarm: Click here to share on Facebook Click here to share on Twitter Click here for our news story to share with friends on email Right now, the government is considering new legislation that would force companies to take responsibility for the damage they do with throwaway packaging. We’ve sent them a detailed report with the evidence from the Big Beach Clean -- now we need you to help spread the word that these companies need to clean up their act. With signatures, shares, beach cleans, talking to friends and family, and now taking the fight to corporations, every day we build a stronger movement to protect the ocean. #GenerationSea. Thanks, Ben Hewitt, Director of Campaigns and Projects, Surfers Against Sewage PS: Here’s what SAS supporter Dani wrote on Facebook after watching ‘The Creature’...thank you Dani. We couldn’t agree more. "Very powerful 🙏😢 We know from beach cleans what a massive difference individuals and communities can make in the fight against plastic pollution, we just need to continue to make people aware of the power they have." Our campaigns are powered by people like you. Protect what you love by donating or visiting our shop. Thank you!

SURFERS AGAINST SEWAGE Registered Charity in England & Wales No. 1145877

Surfers Against Sewage | Environmental charity tackling plastic pollution

Here's the video:
Killed by plastic pollution: unknown animal washes up on Cornwall beach. #TheCreature - YouTube 

And here's more:
Futures Forum: What's your plastic footprint? ... “A one-use bottle is simply not a viable option for our business”
Futures Forum: Plastic pollution: the polluter pays
Futures Forum: There will soon be more plastic than fish in the sea
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Sidmouth Plastic Warriors > beach clean at the Sea Fest Saturday 18th May > and taking things to the next level

Last month saw a very successful session on the beach:
Futures Forum: Sidmouth Plastic Warriors > Surfers Against Sewage's Spring Clean - Summit To Sea campaign: Saturday 6th April

Which was part of a national effort:
Futures Forum: The Big Spring Beach Clean > a record-smashing 45,771 people showed up

The Plastic Warriors will be at the Sea Fest this Saturday: 

Sidmouth Plastic Warriors Public Group | Facebook

With a further message from the chair of the Warriors: 

Beach clean and an update...

Dear fellow Plastic Warriors

This Saturday is the annual Sea Fest extravaganza on the Ham (and later on throughout town) and we will be right in the middle of it with a beach clean at 10am until 12. Please come along and join in, or if you can’t please share the attached flyer far and wide. As usual equipment is provided but do bring your own if you have it.

We have been given a load of litter pickers from EDDC for our Adopt A Spot scheme ( http://sidmouthplasticwarriors.org/adopt-a-spot/ ). If you are already an 'adopter', please let me know if you want one of the pickers, and if you want to sign up to be one then email me on info@sidmouthplasticwarriors.org and let me know where you are adopting, and again if you want a litter picker. I am compiling a list and then will get them all out to those who need them asap.

Lastly, what a busy few weeks it has been! Thank you to anyone who voted for me in the elections that resulted in me now being an East Devon District Councillor and Sidmouth Town Councillor! I felt the time was right for change and was proved right. We had our first informal town council meeting last night, to meet each other and get up to speed with how everything works, and it really feels like we can make some positive changes around the town – with a green agenda at the heart of it (if I have anything to do with it!) However, this has raised a bit of an issue… I want to grab this opportunity with both hands to make sure the environmental issues we all care about are really heard, in order to reflect in policy how we all feel. I hope that I can make a huge difference but I have to pour all my energy into it for a bit while I deal with the enormously steep learning curve I face.

This means I will be very busy. And I don't want to step down in any way from the warriors but I NEED HELP. This doesn't come easy to me as I am a natural control freak but was wondering how to delegate some areas. I know that a lot of you, if not all, are busy too of course but I think it may be time to get a proper committee system going, with groups for beach cleans, fund raising, plastic free status maybe, with someone in charge of each one and getting various people on each sub committee... and so I am hoping that some people will come forward who can give us some time and experience to take the Warriors to the next level. We could do with a meeting to take this further so please email info@sidmouth-plasticwarriors.org if you are able to potentially join in. It seems like a good time to do this anyway, as the ‘Plastic Free Sidmouth’ bit seems to have stalled (mainly due to me just not having time!) so we can push that forward and start to make inroads again. Don't worry if you think you're going to get loads put on you that you don’t have time for - I've managed fine up to now just doing these things myself but if we can push for more, grow, make it more a team effort, I think we will see a huge benefit.

Oh and I still want to be on the beach clean committee! :-)

Thanks all and see you Saturday at 10ish I hope

Denise

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Denise Bickley (Now Cllr Bickley!)
Sidmouth Plastic Warriors
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/181478989253793/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SidPlasticWar
Website: http://sidmouthplasticwarriors.org/

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Devon Maritime Forum > May newsletter:

Here's this month's newsletter from the Devon Maritime Forum - an excellent place to go for up-to-date information:

We hope you had a fantastic Easter and have been enjoying the wonderful spring weather, here is the latest newsletter from the DMF... This month's newsletter features your usual roundup of local and national stories, key marine research and reports and information on consultations you can get involved with. There is also special features on Mental Health at Sea, Invasive Species Week and Imogen Napper's research on 'biodegradable' bags. Read on to find out more... Upcoming Events May 18: Exe Spring Clean up 2019 Exe Estuary Management Partnership May 18: Plastic Free Spring Fayre North Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty JUN 4 - JUN 6: Challenge of Science Leadership Training Course Plymouth University Jun 8: South West Maritime History Society AGM South West Maritime History Society  Its Mental Health Awareness Week (13 - 19 May) and we thought we would highlight this amazing campaign by the Sailors Society. More than a quarter of seafarers suffer from depression. Long contracts at sea, thousands of miles away from families and friends – often with inconsistent or no Wi-Fi – can be incredibly isolating and challenging. Click HERE to find out more! Local News New Management Plan for the Outstanding North Devon Coast with ambitious plans to deliver improvements for places, people and wildlife, the updated Management Plan for the North Devon Coast Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty is now live more University Students Participate in Plastic Pollution Expedition to India scientists from the University of Plymouth are taking part in an all-female expedition studying plastic pollution in one of the world’s most iconic waterways more D&S IFCA Set to Close Public Shellfish Beds the D&S IFCA Byelaw & Permitting Sub-Committee has taken the decision to apply a temporary closure to public shellfish beds in both the Teign and Exe Estuary more New Drive to Cut Carbon Emissions Across Devon Devon County Council leader John Hart is pledging cash support towards a new drive to cut carbon emissions and tackle climate change more But what does 'biodegradable' mean?   Biodegradable plastic bags are still capable of carrying full loads of shopping after being exposed in the natural environment for three years! Imogen Napper of Plymouth University explains below:   “After three years, I was really amazed that any of the bags could still hold a load of shopping. For a biodegradable bag to be able to do that was the most surprising. When you see something labelled in that way, I think you automatically assume it will degrade more quickly than conventional bags. But, after three years at least, our research shows that might not be the case.” Full press release available here National & International News UN agency meets to tackle Pollution and Emissions by Ships this week is the 74th meeting of the marine environmental protection committee of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) more Mariana Trench: Deepest-ever Sub Dive Finds Plastic Bag an American explorer has found plastic waste on the seafloor while breaking the record for the deepest ever dive more Image: Reeve Joliffe Maritime UK Launch Inaugural National Awards Programme the Maritime UK Awards will be the first truly national maritime awards in the UK, organised by industry, for the benefit of industry more Scientists Test Radical Ways to Fix Earth's Climate scientists in Cambridge plan to set up a research centre to develop new ways to repair Earth's climate more Image: BBC Research and Reports Study Explores the Use of Robots and Artificial Intelligence to Understand the Deep Sea more (Plymouth University) New Study Reveals that Marine Diatoms have Evolved Novel Signalling Mechanisms for Environmental Sensing  more (Marine Biological Association) Ocean Acidification Impacts on Coastal Ecosystem Services due to Habitat Degradation more  (Emerging Topics in Life Sciences) The rise in ocean plastics evidenced from a 60-year time series more (Nature Communications)  Did You Know?   Invasive non-native species harm the environment and wildlife, are costly to the economy, and can even pose a risk to our health and way of life. Visit Natural Devon's 'Devon Invasive Species Initiative' page to find out more about invasive species in the county and surrounding areas. Consultations DEFRA Marine Strategy Part One: UK Updated Assessment and Good Environmental Status (20 June 2019) Environment Agency Draft National Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy for England  (4 July 2019) Sea-Changers marine conservation charities and not-for-profit organisations funding application    If you have any news or events that you would like included in the next edition of the DMF newsletter please get in touch

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