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Plastic pollution
Our Plastics programme offers practical, evidence-based steps to tackle plastic pollution, so that everyone can be part of the solution.
The complexity, scale and urgency of the plastics challenge means it's something we must tackle together.
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THE TOP 4 PLASTIC POLLUTERS
Using less plastic is the biggest thing everyone can do to prevent waste and pollution, how many of these items do you use everyday?
Bottles
The biggest source of plastic pollution in rivers, 6.9% of all used plastic bottles are littered a year in the UK.
Food wrappers
300 million crisp packets and 200 million sweet wrappers end up as litter in the UK every year.
Cigarette butts
In the UK an estimated 44 billion cigarettes are smoked each year, with over 14 billion ending up as litter.
Takeaway Containers
5.2 billion food containers are used each year of which 0.3 billion end up as litter.
Cotton Bud Sticks
1.8 billion plastic-stemmed cotton buds are used in England each year. 10% are flushed down the toilet.
Takeaway Cups
An estimated 2.5 billion coffee cups (30,000 tonnes) are used. 99% are currently not recycled.
Sanitary Products
Each day 9.3 million wet wipes, 700,000 panty liners, 2.5 million tampons and 1.4 million sanitary towels are flushed down the toilet.
Microplastics
We’re working with businesses to explore solutions to microplastics pollution
Read more
Your views on plastic
In April 2018, we asked what you think about the issues around plastic waste and pollution, and the actions you'd be interested in taking to tackle these issues. Hundreds of you responded to our survey and these are the results.
The problem with plastic
Smoking related litter
Smoking-related packaging makes up 1.1% of all litter items found in the freshwater environment.
Straws, cutlery and stirrers
4.7 billion straws, 316 million drinks stirrers and 16.5 billion single-use cutlery items are used each year. These items are often made from hard-to-recycle plastic.
Plastic bags
Single-use plastic carrier bag use has fallen 86% since the UK introduced the 5p tax in 2014, but the seven major supermarkets still issued over a billion bags in 2017.
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We want to build collaboration and conversation across sectors to shape our investment and develop pioneering interventions. If you're interested in working with us, we'd love to hear from you.
Images: iStock/barbaraaaa, John Hunt, iStock/artisteer, iStock/vchal, eXXpedition
