It’s official…Sewage & Plastic are UK Government priorities

Thanks to all our Ocean Activists, from our Plastic Free Communities to our SAS Reps, our Plastic Free Champions and everyone that put up our Vote for the Ocean posters, we ARE making a difference. The new Secretary of State for the Environment, Steve Reed, has announced five core priorities for the next five years. And what he says is quite exciting…

Number 1 = cleaning up Britain’s rivers, lakes and seas

Number 2 = creating a roadmap to move Britain to a zero waste economy

This is an epic moment, we now have sewage and plastic pollution in the first two priorities the new government has set for the environment. This does not happen by accident, and is a testament to what people power can do.

But the job’s far from over.

Now, it’s up to us to hold the new government to account and make sure they deliver on their manifesto commitments. And we’re not going to be pulling any punches, we will be ready to put on pressure and call them out if they are not doing enough.

We will be campaigning for an end to delays to plastic reducing policies such as DRS & EPR, as part of their commitment to work towards a zero-waste economy. We will take on the role of critical friends, providing the information and the expertise to tackle the pollution choking our seas, at both the national and local level.

MP’s are elected to represent their constituents’ views and opinions. So, while they are setting out what they are going to do, now is the time to let them know we’ve had enough of plastic pollution in our communities, and sewage and microplastics in our waters.

In the coming weeks we at HQ will be knocking on the office doors of these new MPS to call on them to take action and join the movement battling to protect the ocean. We will also be supporting local communities to create critical working relationships with their local MPs and encouraging everyone everywhere to use our simple tool to get in touch with their local representative and ask them to ‘pledge to protect the ocean’.

If you would like to continue to put the pressure on locally and call on your MP to pledge to protect the ocean, then you can use our email template HERE. You can amend the template letter to talk about DRS and EPR and also any local plastic pollution issues or campaigns you want to raise locally.

If you would like to get involved with tackling plastic pollution locally and campaigning for change, then find out if you have a local plastic free community near you, or sign up to lead one.