Matt Harwood from Surfers Against Sewage explains their latest campaign. Ed
Wasteland is a Surfers Against Sewage campaign that brings to life our concerns about the amount of plastic in the marine environment.
Wasteland is a metaphor for the largest concentration of ocean plastic in the world, the North Pacific Gyre where it has been found that there is more plastic than plankton.
We are conceptualising it as a new country that is fuelled by single use plastics in the ocean and will take over the world if we don’t do something about it.
What is the problem with plastic in our oceans?
For wildlife, it can be deadly.
Plastic can entangle, injure and drown animals; it can also be mistaken for food and starve animals to death by blocking their digestive systems.
Chemicals linked to some cancers
For us humans, it’s not looking good either. At risk are our wild spaces and oxygen supply as well as our health.
The chemicals that plastics leach and absorb in seawater have been linked to endocrine disruption and some cancers and with one in three fish caught for human consumption now containing plastic, it’s no longer a question of if there is plastic in our seafood, but how bad exactly that is for us.
Get involved
Sign up today for the Wasteland campaign and find out how you can help.
