“Plastic Free Nantwich” campaign to launch at pub talk

A national plastic pollution expert is to give a talk in Nantwich to start a campaign for the town to become ‘plastic free’.

Dr Sharon George, from Keele University, will be joining local people to launch the Plastic Free Nantwich at the Leopard pub on Wednesday March 20.

The campaign group aims to tackle the rising tide of plastic pollution in the oceans, soils and the air – and is calling on everyone to come along to learn more and get involved.

The event will also see a screening of “A Plastic Ocean” – the award-winning documentary from The Plastic Oceans Foundation.

Concern about the rising tide of plastic pollution around the world has hit a new high watermark since Sir David Attenborough concentrated attention on the issue in his Blue Planet series.

Nantwich environmental campaigner Jeremy Herbert said plastics pollution was drowning humanity.

“It’s not just a wildlife issue – although that’s massively important of course.

“Plastic toxins are now in the food chain.

“The chemicals are in the fish we eat, in the soil, in our foods and in the air we breath.

“Yes, plastics can be really useful, but we have been careless and profligate and ignored the side effects of our throw away culture. We are literally drowning in our own waste.

“These toxins include Phthalates, a family of chemicals which damage the liver, kidneys, lungs and the reproductive systems.

“Plastics are an all pervading example of how humans are changing our planet and pumping toxins into our own life support system.”

Plastic Free Nantwich will be a grassroots people’s campaign to encourage sustainable and safe alternatives to plastics in everyday life.

Jeremy added: “We can all play a part in cleaning up our oceans, soils and air by calling on politicians to crack down on waste and pollution, get councils and companies to clean up their act, and by changing the way we live as individual consumers and citizens.

“Come along to learn more about how you can play a positive part in a plastic free future for Nantwich, Sooth Cheshire and the planet.”

The launch at The Leopard pub on London Road will start at 7.30pm.

Plastic pollution factfile:
 Tap water is contaminated by micro-plastics worldwide.
 Scientists have discovered micro-plastics embedded deep in the Arctic ice.
 2 million plastic bags used every minute worldwide
 Plastic chemcials have been found in birds eggs from the remote Arctic
 In 1950, the world’s population of 2.5 billion produced 1.5 million tons of plastic; in 2016, a global population of more than 7 billion people produced over 320 million tons of plastic. This is set to double by 2034.
 Plastic pollution can now be found on every beach in the world, from busy tourist beaches to uninhabited, tropical islands nowhere is safe.
 More than 8 million tonnes of plastic are dumped in our oceans every year
 There may now be around 5.25 trillion macro and microplastic pieces floating in the open ocean. Weighing up to 269,000 tonnes.
 100,000 marine mammals and turtles and 1 million sea birds are killed by marine plastic pollution annually.
 One third of all plastic waste ends up in soils and freshwater – and in our food.

https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/story/plastic-planet-how-tiny-plastic-particles-are-polluting-our-soil