For Trash Free Oceans

Worldwide, just 9% of all the plastic waste ever produced has been recycled, while about 12% has been incinerated. The remainder has finished up in landfills, dumps or the environment like the ocean, according to the U.N. agency (UNEP). Globally, 1 million plastic drinking bottles are purchased every minute, while 5 trillion single-use plastic bags are used every year. We can’t continue that way anymore and Endangered Species International (ESI) has been working in many fronts for a trash free ocean.

ESI has been focusing on solving some of the greatest threats facing our ocean today, including plastic pollution, coral reef decline, and mangrove removal. Not only ESI works to save threatened marine-megafauna species, such as sharks, rays, marine mammals and turtles, but we work each day to save ocean from the plastic pollution crisis. See below our work and what you can do.

Total ban on single-use plastic items, and improved waste collection and recycling at cities and local coastal communities around the world.

Increase public awareness campaigns on plastics. They have an impact on consumer behavior - such as not using single-use drinking straws, or opting for reusable water bottles and coffee cups - along with incentives for recycling. ESI focuses public awareness in Southeast Asia where ocean plastic pollution is rampant.

Clean up coastal communities and ocean. Communities living near or in coastal areas have teamed up with businesses to form voluntary groups that collect rubbish that washes up on their shores, hoping to protect nature and vital tourism industries. ESI will intensify coastal clean-up during mangrove planting and monitoring in southeast Asia and western Africa.

Increase consumer pressure, so big brands must cut plastic waste, including Coca Cola and PepsiCo among more than 70 signatories to call for a global pact to combat plastic pollution. We must move to slash emissions by adopting circular economy policies.

Save and care for wildlife injured by plastics. More than 800 marine and coastal species are affected by this horrific pollution through ingestion, entanglement, and other dangers, while around 11 million tons of plastic waste flow each year into the ocean. This could triple by 2040 if we don’t act. ESI has been caring and saving wildlife from the horrendous impacts of plastics.

Plastic producers must pay the bills to clean up. Africa is not a major producer of chemicals or plastics; however, companies are flooding the continent with plastics with no thought about after-use. it should be the responsibility of the producers and importers to prevent plastic pollution in the environment.

7 simple things you can do to help reduce plastic pollution and clean-up ocean

1. Don’t use plastic bags. Use a reusable bag or bag made of nature materials;

2. Reduce your use of plastics, reuse plastic products whenever possible, recycle all you can as last resort;

3. Look for less packaging or no plastic packaging. If products come with too much packaging, refuse to buy them and complain to the manufacturers by sending emails or phone calls;

4. Watch out and avoid for toiletries that contain microbeads. These small plastic beads are found in some facial products, soaps, shower gels and toothpastes. They are very small so can't be effectively filtered from waste before it enters rivers, lakes or oceans;

5. Pick up litter next time you are in nature (e.g., beach, forest);

6. Support local and national legislations that ban the use of plastics;

7. Support ESI aggressive program to remove plastics from ocean.