Plastic Bag Project

Pictures like this of an Atlantic storm south of Iceland give the impression of wonderfully clean waters.

Unfortunately, the truth about the state of the world's oceans is very different.

Monk seal
Over the last 50 years, more and more plastic rubbish has accumulated in the earth's waters – plastic which will take several centuries before it degrades.

This internet project is aimed to help you:

discover the facts about this aspect of marine pollution
discover our contribution to causing this catastrophe
discover what one woman did about it
discover what other people are now doing to reduce our society's use of plastics

Start with the websites listed below. They contain a lot of information as well as many links to other sites, so try not to get lost (it may help to refer back to this page occasionally to return to the URL's here).

Your task

make your own handwritten notes (i.e. no "copy and paste") on
What everyone should know about plastic
write a list of relevant vocabulary you have met during your research
keep a record over a weekend of how many plastic bags you and your family use
make a note of how much plastic is used in packaging the goods you and your family buy
take a walk in a park or the country (if possible, where there is water): note how much plastic litter you see
make a note of how successful (or not) you and your family have become at reducing your use of plastics

Websites to start with

Modbury
Find out about the first plastic bag free town in Britain.
Message in the Waves
Discover the connection between Hawaii and a Devon town.
Dumb plastic: the voyage of the Plastiki
Marine Conservation Society
Explore the information on this website and discover ways in which ordinary people can help.
Non-plastic bags
Find out about alternatives.
Now find out about the environmental limitations of the alternatives.
Read and take notes on this report Do we really need to ban plastic bags? which shows the complexity of environmental issues.

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