South Devon Coast

just some nice pictures taken on a crisp early Autumn day in South Devon

Big steps

It is easy to moan that nothing will change until consumers demand that it changes, but sometimes it takes a a big company to say 'we wont wait - we'll do it' to drag everyone along with them; usually though it needs to be a VERY big company to actually make a real impact.

Proctor and Gamble makes Pringles, Bold, Crest, Iams, Olay, and lots and lots of other products you probably buy all the time (or maybe assiduously avoid). Regardless, it's the world's largest consumer products company, and this week, it revealed an ambitious "new long-term vision": It plans to eventually run on 100 percent renewable energy, use 100 percent recycled or renewable packaging, and send no waste to landfills.

Large companies have made bold promises in the past, but this is extra bold. What's encouraging, though, is that P&G has committed to incremental, 10-year targets along the way. The company is aiming to get 30 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2020, for example. It will take a while for it to get there, but P&G deserves credit for setting the bar where it should be: up at 100.

(retweeted/aggregated/lifted/nicked from Good

The Government Responds...

Earlier in the year I signed a Surfers Against Sewage petition on the No 10 website urging the government to do more about marine litter. "Volumes of marine litter are dramatically increasing year after year. Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) has successful marine litter campaigns targeting manufacturers, mobilising large-scale grass roots direct action and increasing public awareness on this ever-worsening problem. However, with each new high tide comes a new marine litter line impacting on our beloved beaches and surf spots.

Current anti-litter legislation such as The Environmental Protection Act 1990, MARPOL and the Port Waste Reception Facilities regulations are not providing the levels of protection needed for the coastline.

SAS believe that marine litter is coming from a wide variety of sources, including; beach users, sanitary related debris, industry, and fishing. SAS and other environmental NGOs have found that almost 70% of this litter is plastic. Plastics have a devastating impact on the marine environment over a long period, as well as economic impacts on local communities and the fishing industry.

As an SAS supporter, I urge you to implement a National Marine Litter Strategy to combat this worsening issue and help protect our coastlines."

And their response....a we're not doing much, and will continue to do not much.... or as they put it;

"The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is the government department responsible for the marine environment and recognises the importance of tackling marine litter to achieve the Government’s vision for ensuring our seas are clean, healthy and safe. Defra’s strategy for dealing with marine litter encompasses a range of national, European and North East Atlantic initiatives.

Within the UK, it is against the law to drop or throw litter anywhere in the open air, including beaches, and Defra already supports a number of initiatives to reduce litter including providing funding to support Keep Britain Tidy which runs the Blue Flag and Quality Coast award schemes in England, and Fishing for Litter - a Defra funded project to land and dispose of litter caught up in fishing gear in SW England. This pilot project has recently been expanded to include the port of Appledore in North Devon.

Defra’s ‘Charting Progress 2’ report, an integrated assessment of the state of UK seas, to be published this summer, draws attention to the limited evidence available regarding the problems litter can pose for habitats and species in the marine environment. The wide range of sources, number of entry pathways, ease of transport by currents and wind, as well as insufficient knowledge on the impacts of litter in the sea, make it a complex issue to address.

Marine litter has also been highlighted in the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (2008). All Member States, including the UK, are required to put in place a programme of measures by 2016 to ensure that ‘properties and quantities of marine litter do not cause harm to the coastal and marine environment’ by 2020. The European Commission has appointed a group of experts through its Joint Research Centre to review the current research on the impacts of marine litter and consider possible indicators for monitoring and assessment. This report has just been completed and is being used by the Commission as a basis for developing methodological standards and criteria which Member States will use as a basis for assessing the scope of the problem, with a view to putting in place any measures that may be necessary.

Defra considers that the framework set out by the Directive offers the best opportunity to consider what action is necessary to tackle the problem of marine litter. As one of the next steps in taking this forward Defra is hoping to explore the issues associated with marine litter in a workshop to take place this Autumn. We will be inviting key stakeholders and hope that you will attend to represent your organisation."