P lastic was invented less than a hundred years ago, yet in this short amount of time, single-use plastic in particular has become one of the biggest made-made threats to our planet today.
From the amount of oil used its manufacture, the toxic leachate produced when plastic is buried, to the millions of tonnes of plastic entering our oceans per year – single-use plastic is misused and abused with severe consequences.
Some quick facts about single-use plastic
- Over the last 10 years humans have produced more plastic than during the last century.
- For every single-use plastic bottle of water, the equivalent of around 1/5th of its capacity of oil – a finite resource – is used.
Did you know? The UK alone uses 2.5 billion disposable coffee cups per year!
In numbers, that’s: 2.5,000,000,000,000
- It is likely that the seafood we eat contains microplastic in its gut or nano plastics in the meat tissue
- Microplastics in the ocean attract toxins from the water around it.
- Toxins in sealife are persistent, and biomagnify up the food chain we are the top of.
- Toxins and chemicals from plastics are thought to cause cancer and disrupt hormones.
- Around 60% of the plastic we use is single-use – used once and then thrown away, and about a truck’s worth of plastic enters the world’s oceans every single minute.
- By 2050 scientists believe there will be more plastic in the sea than fish (in weight terms)
- It is estimated that 100,000 sea mammals die from entanglement and suffocation caused by plastic marine debris.
- Around 1 million sea birds die a year from ingesting pieces of plastic found on land or floating in the sea.
- Approximately one in four fish caught for human consumption has pieces of plastic in its gut.
We’ve compiled some resources to promote discussion and raise awareness of just what the issues and concerns regarding plastic are.
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Packs of resources to help save you time.
All Issues and Concerns PDFs (zip file) – coming soon
Issues and Concerns Resources
On a recent trip to the Portuguese islands of The Azores, the Kids Against Plastic team saw it not so much as a holiday, but an opportunity to investigate if...
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This resource introduces students to the sea turtles of Costa Rica and the importance of their habitat, assesses the dangers that they face and encourages students to consider how they…
DOWNLOADThe UK Plastics Pact are tackling the issue of problematic or unnecessary single-use plastic, changing how we make, use, reuse and recycle these items. 2020 is fast approaching… just over…
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The final workshop in a series of four from The Environment Agency, focussing on human impact on the oceans, microplastics and how to conduct a survey in the field.
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Third workshop in a series of four from The Environment Agency, focussing on collecting and presenting data, life cycles and alternatives to single-use plastic.
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Second workshop in a series of four from The Environment Agency, focussing on animals, habitats and ocean plastics.
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First workshop in a series of four from The Environment Agency, focussing on animals, what they eat and an introduction to issues around plastic pollution.
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Big corporations that use billions of tonnes of single-use plastic a year globally are a BIG part of the single-use plastic disaster, but as this video shows, when shareholders demand…
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Here is an infographic we've been working on for a while to raise awareness of cigarette butts, both as a source of plastic litter but also as a threat to our health and freshwater and marine life. We've split this infographic across 3 sides of A4 so that you can easily print them out and trim them before making a large version of this information for your classroom or display boards.
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Part 2 of a two-part blog post about plastic microfibres that are shed from our everyday clothing and the impact they have on our rivers and oceans. Check out this...
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Plastic microfibres from our clothes are a big BIG problem. So, we are really happy that there is a company that is trying to reduce this problem on a bigger scale through its washing machine filters. Find out more.
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When ATAG (Air Transport Action Group) invited Amy and Ella to speak about single-use plastics at the Global Aviation Sustainability Summit in Geneva in October 2018, the Kids Against Plastic…
Read MoreLearn about the hidden horror that are man-made material microfibres - tiny pieces of plastic clothing fibres that get washed out of our clothes, and into our waterways, each time we wash them.
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Find out about the hidden but dangerous problem of microfibre plastic pollution.
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Cleanups are a great way to remove plastic pollution already on the beach, but how do we stop it from getting there in the first place?
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The Story of Bottled Water, released on March 22, 2010 (World Water Day)
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Sky News looks at a new project that could help tackle the global plastic pollution crisis. But is this the solution to replace single-use plastic bottles? Take a look and see what you think.
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Amy and Ella recorded this video a couple of years ago when they were invited to speak in schools around the UK but couldn’t make it. The girls might look…
Read MoreSee how plastic bottles can be recycled and what they can be turned into.
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A thought-provoking photograph showing a bulldozer working on a landfill site.
Read MoreA short but very powerful film about how a whale - dying from plastic ingestion - is seemingly trying to communicate this (and perhaps more) to the humans that found it.
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There are many myths about what can be and what is (two very different things) be recycled - this resource from Hull University busts some of those myths.
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An engaging film about how much plastic we use and how does it affect the natural world?
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A very informative infographic about our relationship (reliance) on plastic and the realities of where and how it ends up in our environment.
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We’ve all been told that we should recycle plastic bottles and containers. But what actually happens to the plastic if we just throw it away?
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This slideshow shows, under a microscope, some of the plastic microfibres we wash into our waterways when we wash our clothes.
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When Amy and Ella grilled Iceland supermarket boss about its use of plastic packaging.
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Plastic by numbers (facts and figures) by Will McCallum, head of Greenpeace UK Oceans.
DOWNLOADConcerns about plastic pollution and specifically how it is affecting the health of Albatrosses. A short film made by Blue Planet II.
Read MoreAmy explains the reasons why we shouldn't be hitting the bottle - a short film.
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An excellent video by Algalita a non-profit organisation dedicated to the protection of the marine environment. The video covers plastic (as a material) the issues associated with plastic pollution, and some…
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A funny audiobook, written by Georgina Stevens, narrated by Jeremy Irons, about a Tiger Shark named Finn, who gets into a spot of bother. Also featuring a brand new, beautiful…
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A lesson that uses research about the Great Pacific Trash Island (gyre) to investigate the effects of plastic pollution.
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A KS2 reading comprehension about plastic pollution and its effects.
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A KS2 reading comprehension about plastic pollution and its effects.
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A lesson resource to support the linked lesson Pros and Cons of Plastic.
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A KS2 lesson that encourages pupils to consider the Pros and Cons of plastic before making and justifying a personal opinion about the positive and negatives associated with plastic.
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A hands-on activity that requires the application of knowledge and skills to classify a selection of products based on whether they contain plastic or not. The work on 'environmental impact', 'recyclability' and 'sustainability' make this a rich and engaging lesson.
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How is plastic recycled? And is all recycling a good thing? Just two of the themes covered in this KS2 lesson about properties and changes in materials.
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A resource to support the lesson guide Plastic Recycling Process.
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An interesting lesson about the different groups / scientists that lead the early work that led to the creation of plastic, and how evidence is used to support or refute science.
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A KS2 lesson that focuses on developing speaking and listening skills and how to use facts and figures during discussions and debates.
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Plastic in our oceans is killing marine wildlife at a staggering rate
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A selection of images showing litter in the environment to show just how ubiquitous plastic pollution is, and how - once you start looking for it - you find it everywhere.
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New Research by the University of Hull and the British Antarctic Survey has highlighted the emerging problem of plastic pollution in the Antarctic
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Plastic pollution pictured along the coast of Wadi El Gamal national park, Marsa Alam, Egypt. Credit: Cherie Bridges
Read MoreA mother pilot whale grieves over its dead calf. A short film from Blue Planet II.
Read MoreThe future of our oceans. A short film made by Blue Planet II.
Read MoreKids Against Plastic share exclusive interview footage with Steve Backshall, Simon Reeve, Sylvia Earle and more, shot at the brilliantly inspirational Steppes Beyond Festival 2017 at the Royal Geographical Society –…
Read MoreThe plastic you throw away could end up back in the food chain.
Read MoreThere is so much plastic in our oceans, that you could be eating 11,000 microparticles of plastic per year.
Read MoreA short film about how our clothes can have an impact on pollution in the sea.
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This is the third of three videos about the life of plastic bottles, covering how we can combat plastic pollution, and also the non-plastic alternatives that are out there.
Read MoreThis is the second of three videos about the life of a plastic bottle, covering the consumption and disposal of bottles.
Read MoreThe first of three videos about plastic bottles and their negative impact on the environment throughout their lives. This video covers the manufacture and transportation of a plastic bottle.
Read MoreA news bulletin about a whale that starved to death after consuming plastic, some of it from the UK.
Read MoreDoes it make sense to buy bottled water? Not in Buxton, Derbyshire it doesn't.
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A short film made by Kids Against Plastic explain some of the issues with single-use plastic and why we all need to do something about it. Please note: the website…
Read MoreA short film made by Kids Against Plastic highlighting the amount of plastic pollution in our local river, the River Trent in Nottingham.
Read MoreA Sky Oceans Rescue film (45 mins) about why plastic pollution is becoming one of the biggest threats to our environment and us; humans.
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An infographic showing 10 statistics about bottled water consumption.
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How many throw-away coffee cups does the UK use a year?… a day?… a second? And what happens to them? Find out here? Credit: Phoxwater.com
Read MoreA Sky Oceans Rescue film (45 mins) about why plastic pollution is becoming one of the biggest threats to our environment and us; humans.
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Sky Ocean Rescue is partnering with National Geographic to give 3 scholars the opportunity to drive research that will raise awareness of the issues surrounding ocean health and advance our…
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An brightly illustrated information sheet full of stats and facts. Credit: The Deep, Hull.
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A thought-provoking resource that helps children understand how our actions on land impact on the sea. Created by The Marine Conservation Society.
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A fun but provocative resource that offers a great stimulus for discussions and follow up work on beach litter.
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An informative text highlighting the growth of beach litter on UK beaches.. Created by The Marine Conservation Society.
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Bottled water – a fresh-tasting, pure drink that is supposedly bottled from pristine mountain rivers. A beverage that nations spend billions of pounds on every year. And, in reality, a substance that is often misrepresented by the label on the bottle. Here are 6 reasons, though, why the bottled drink is no better than tap water.
Read MoreOn a remote island in the Tasman Sea Liz Bonnin meets the scientists battling to save Flesh-footed Shearwater chicks from the devastating effects of plastic pollution. NB contains disturbing scenes…
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A two-page PDF that explores some of the issues with plastic pollution and the materials the litter is made from. Created by The Marine Conservation Society.
DOWNLOADAn animation of the story of how (and how much of) our rubbish makes it into the oceans. Created by Project Aware.
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A film highlighting the plastic litter problem in the Scottish village of Arrochar.
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