The autopsy results for some of the Sperm Whales that recently stranded on the German coastline have been published. Although not the cause of death they had all ingested a considerable amount of plastic. One of them had even swallowed a plastic car cover for God’s sake. The plastic would eventually have caused the whales problems and inevitable death.
This week the ‘Marine Conservation Society’ published the results of its 2015 beach clean survey. They found 99 plastic bottles on every kilometre of beach surveyed.
It’s time this stopped.
When I was a boy I used to collect up the glass bottles and take them back to the off-licence to reclaim a refund that supplemented my pocket money. Isn’t it about time we started something similar for plastic bottles? Surely it makes sense and would be a start to cleaning up our oceans.
The photo is one I took last year of a bull Sperm Whale – are they worth saving? You tell me.
Letter From Norfolk 
They do have recycling of plastic soda bottles in NY. But I see them in the garbage in our building. The wealthy don’t care about the refund or the environment. NY has a mandatory recycling with hefty fines but no one seems to be issuing fines. This makes the recycling program in NY a joke. It is sad.
It is very sad Cherry. Quite often with the wealthy it’s the troublesome nature of a fine rather than it’s size that spurs them into action. Can you not write a flyer to your local residents and lobby the authorities not to collect garbage that has not been correctly sorted? All may not abide but if one single person takes notice you will have done your job.
Will do what I can.
Good on ye Sherry.
Hello, we are new to the plight of the oceans but we have embraced it this summer as a family and are trying to help make a change. You say you remember getting refunds for returning glass bottles – well I have just today, discovered a UK Parliament Petition to do the same with plastic bottles here’s the link – but not long until it expires. If you are interested in signing it please do, spread the word and share it. Many thanks. https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/125568
Fab blog btw! 🙂
Excellent will do.