Prince Charles, The Prince of Wales, has urged the world to tackle the "escalating ecological and human disaster" of plastics in the sea and find solutions to the growing problem. He encourages scientists, entrepreneurs, retailers and industry figures to take up the double challenge of designing packaging that uses less plastic and is recyclable. The Prince highlighted the problem of cheap and easy-to-produce plastic flooding the economy and ending up in the environment, causing "huge damage".
In his keynote speech, Charles said: "As scientific consensus deepens on the impact of plastic waste on biodiversity, on the food chain and, dare I say it, on human health, it becomes ever more urgent that we find ways to deal with this escalating ecological and human disaster. With plastic being so cheap and easy to produce, it is little wonder that vast quantities flood our economy each year.”
"Our ability to manage this flow, however, is struggling to keep pace and, alas, it is equally no great surprise that so much of our plastic waste is ending up in the environment. And because plastics are so extraordinarily durable, once they are in the environment that is where they stay, accumulating at an astonishing rate.”
"This strikes me as a tragedy for two reasons. Firstly, because the loss of non-renewable resources from the system makes absolutely no economic sense; and secondly, because of the huge damage plastic pollution does to the environment, particularly the marine environment."
A report which is published in association with the World Economic Forum claimed that by 2050, the oceans are expected to contain more plastics than fish, by weight.
Source: independent.co.uk
Picture: Hillary Daniels