Stop Senseless Plastic Waste

We, the undersigned, wish to express our disfavour of improper use and distribution of plastic bags.

Each year between 500 billion and 1 trillion plastic bags are produced worldwide. The US alone produces 25 million tonnes of plastic per year. The common plastic variety – polyethylene – takes 200 years to break down.

Plastics are an enormous hazard for all marine life and cause huge amounts of waste throughout all areas of our planet. A huge ‘island’ of plastic waste floats near Hawaii. It is a disaster for any fish or marine life.

More than a million seabirds and over 100,000 whales, turtles, seals and other sea life are killed each year – and those statistics arise only from the ones who are discovered. Countries that do not charge for Plastic bags and give them out freely are HUGE contributors to plastic waste.

Ireland recently adopted a plastic bag charge and plastic bag use dropped 69%. Such changes need to be made. And quickly. Our oceans are already under threat. Without a global consensus on plastic use and distribution, our oceans and waterways will continue to degrade and our planet will continue the senseless death of those marine species that HAVE A RIGHT TO EXIST IN THE WORLD'S OCEANS WITHOUT INTERFERENCE BY MAN OR MAN-MADE PRODUCTS.

We deem it a basic right of nature that international waters remain clear of plastic waste and that governments of all countries govern their peoples to stop the use of plastic bags for domestic shopping, for excess packaging and for general over-use.