Do you support the WI Plastic Soup campaign?

The Women’s Institute is joining the battle to reduce plastic pollution of the oceans.

Many cosmetics and toiletries such as shower gels and anti-ageing creams, scrubs and even toothpastes contain thousands of tiny microbeads to add body and provide abrasion.  These tiny plastic beads are then flushed into our rivers and the sea and then eaten by fish and shellfish which we eventually consume. It has been estimated that an average plate of shellfish could contain as many as 50 plastic particles. In August last year 97% of our Silversurfers community were in favour of an immediate ban on microbeads in toiletries.

There is another issue now that is affecting us which is plastic fibres which are released when synthetic clothes are washed. These micro-fibres are reaching the sea. A single washing machine load can result in more than 700,000 microscopic fibres being flushed into waterways, according to a study by researchers at Plymouth University that was published in the Marine Pollution Bulletin last year. The fibres are too small to be filtered out by sewage treatment systems and end up in the sea, where they are eaten by plankton and ultimately end up being consumed by humans.

Almost 99 per cent of delegates to the National Federation of Women’s Institutes’ annual meeting in Liverpool voted in favour of making microplastic fibres the subject of a new campaign.

The WI said its Plastic Soup campaign would involve raising awareness as well as lobbying government. The WI will also try to persuade washing machine manufacturers and water treatment plants to introduce better filters to reduce the number of fibres entering the ocean.

What are your views?  Are you aware of this serious issue which ultimately affects the entire planet? Do you support the Plastic Soup Campaign? What else should be be doing?