WHY FREE?

PLASTIC BAGGOWHY

MarineConservationSocietyMCS

Each household in the UK

receives nearly 300 plastic bags each year!

FACT

What's theproblem?Plastic bags are the ultimate symbol of our modern throwaway lifestyles. Visit any supermarket car park or walk along any road or beach and you are bound to see plastic bags caught in the hedgerow or washed up on the sand.

Used for an average of just 12 minutes, this convenience for us unfortunately has much longer eff ects on our marine environment. Plastic bags cause harm or can kill wildlife. Birds and animals become tangled in them or accidently eat them.

Where do theyall come from?

Unfortunately many plastic bags are thrown away deliberately on the street or beach. Even when properly disposed of, plastic bags often end up as litter in the streets and seas as they are easily blown out of bins and landfi ll sites.

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FACT

Worldwide we use 500,000,000,000 (that's 500 billion) plastic bags a year, almost 1 million every minute

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Whether plastic ends up in the sea accidently or deliberately, the results are the same! Plastics are a danger to all forms of marine life from the largest whale down to the smallest � lter feeders. Whole bags and other plastic items are an obvious menace to wildlife, however plastics also break down at sea into ever smaller pieces eventually forming microscopic particles or dust. These tiny particles can attract toxins onto their surface. Small creatures such as barnacles, lugworms and sand hoppers eat these fragments and these toxins can be passed up the food chain.

What

at sea?happens

FACTIn some places there are

now more plastic fragments in the sea water than plankton.

Inset photo above: Plastic particles in water from the north Pacific. © Algalita

Wheredoes it

all go?The problem with plastic is that it does not biodegrade – it just breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces that contaminate our soil and water and harm our wildlife. The sad fact is that the vast majority of all the plastic that has ever been made is still somewhere on our planet.

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Plastic bags are made of polythene – derived from crude oil. The more bags we use the more we waste our non-renewable resources.

FACT

killPlastic bags

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Marine animals, especially turtles, can accidentally eat plastic bags, mistaking them for their favourite food – jellyfi sh. Plastic bags have been found in the stomachs of sea birds, porpoises, dolphins and whales.

A leatherback turtle washed ashore in Scotland had swallowed so much plastic that its digestive system was blocked.

FACTAn autopsy on a small Minke whale washed up on the Normandy coast revealed that its stomach contained an incredible 800g of plastic bags and packaging, including two British supermarket plastic bags.

TROUBLEFOR TURTLES

The whale's stomach was full of plastic.

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Plastic bags©

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What can

We can all make a diff erence now by taking a reusable bag shopping. Modbury in Devon was the fi rst town to ban plastic bags in the UK and many more are following in their footsteps. See the How To booklet for ideas to make your community Plastic Bag Free.

Countries such as Bangladesh, Kenya and Botswana have banned plastic bags completely, whereas others such as Italy, Finland, Denmark and Ireland tax customers for every plastic bag they use. In Ireland this resulted in a 98% cut in bags given out in stores and an immediate improvement in litter levels.

We realise that banning plastic bags is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to reducing waste, but it’s a great start to get everyone thinking about packaging and the eff ect our wasteful lifestyles have on the environment and wildlife.

be done?

Photo: Modbury traders show off their new bags. © R. Hosking

There are now over 100 towns and communities going Plastic Bag Free – go to www.mcsuk.org to see the full list.

FACT

Photo: Modbury traders show off their new bags. © R. Hosking

What we do

The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) has been working for 25 years to safeguard our seas and the amazing wildlife they contain.

For the last 16 years we have been running beach litter surveys all around the UK. In that time we have found that the average density of litter on our beaches has increased by

110% and there are now over 2,000 pieces of litter for every kilometre surveyed; that’s roughly 2 pieces of litter for every step you take along the beach! Plastic items - which includes plastic bags - have gone up by a staggering 146%. The litter on our beaches accounts for only a fraction of the rubbish fl oating in the sea, harming wildlife and ruining our environment.

This cannot go on! We want to see zero waste on our beaches and our fi rst target is to halve the amount by 2015. We can’t achieve this alone and we are working with Government, industry, retailers and the public to try and bring about this change. Go to www.mcsuk.org for more information.

FACTMCS Beachwatch 2008 found 8,174 plastic

bags on 374 beaches on just one weekend!

MarineConservationSocietyMCS

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USEFUL LINKSwww.mcsuk.orgThe Marine Conservation Society website - go to the Plastic Bag Free section for online resources and further information.

www.plasticbagfree.comModbury’s plastic bag free campaign with lots of plastic bag and alternatives information.

groups.google.com/group/plasticbagfree Plastic Bag Free forum.

CONTACT US:• By post Marine Conservation Society Unit 3, Wolf Business Park Alton Road Ross-on-Wye HR9 5NB

• By telephone on 01989 566 017

• By email on info@mcsuk.org

• Online at www.mcsuk.org

MCS President: HRH The Prince of Wales Registered Charity Number (England & Wales): 1004005Registered Charity Number (Scotland): SC037480Company Limited by Guarantee no: 2550966VAT No: 489 1505 17Registered Offi ce: Unit 3 Wolf Business Park, Alton Road, Ross-on-Wye HR9 5NB

© Original puffi n illustration by Jonny Mendelsson.

MarineConservationSocietyMCS

This project is supported by:

Modbury’s plastic bag free campaign with lots of

groups.google.com/group/plasticbagfree