Plastic bag? Oh that's so yesterday

This year is perhaps the first when we don't need to mention the damage created by single use plastic not just bags, in our new post Blue Planet world most people are aware of the impact of plastic.  Our news is all too frequently filled with horrific stories and nightmare inducing images of whales starving to death with a stomach filled with plastic, of decaying bodies of albatross chicks revealing ingested plastic lighters and the more hopeful stories of turtles being saved from plastic ropes and netting before being released back into the sea.  Since the introduction of the 5p charge on single use bags the tattered remains of bags are no longer fluttering from every hedge, floating downstream in rivers or even rolling down the street like a modern equivalent of the wild west tumbleweed.

And maybe with the lack of visual reminders every time we step outside perhaps a gentle nudge would be welcome and that's what today is - a reminder not to use plastic bags of any sort, just the single use ones. 

Read more on the #PlasticBagFreeDay website.

Perhaps this year we can take it one step further and help to gather back in some of that waste plastic by signing up for beach cleans (MCS hold searchable details here.) or joining a local litter pick (look at LitterAction here) Keep Britain Tidy runs  #LitterHeroes they say: The huge strides we need, to create the clean parks, beaches and streets we all want to see, will be made up of small individual steps - picking up a single piece of litter could be your first step. Find out more.