International Bag Free Day is part of the Bag Free World initiative which is seeking to eliminate single-use plastic bags. As part of our work to tackle the issue of marine debris and its negative impacts on ocean environments, we are asking people not just to go plastic bag free for a day, but to do so for life
Today marks the start of Green Week in Europe – the biggest annual conference on European environment policy. EIA welcomes the focus this year on creating a circular economy, where almost nothing is wasted and reuse of resources becomes standard practice
A staggering 6.4 million tonnes of marine litter is dumped in the ocean every year, it may fragment but does not biodegrade, persisting for hundreds or thousands of years. Single use plastic bags are a significant component of marine debris – more than eight billion plastic bags end up as litter across the EU each year
As the European Parliament votes on measures to reduce the consumption of single-use plastic bags – the third most common type of litter found on European beaches, lakes and rivers – we call on supporters to urge MEPs to support binding measures that will significantly reduce the use of such plastic bags
We traveled to Japan to release our new report, Toxic Catch: Japan's unsustainable and irresponsible whale, dolphin and porpoise hunts, to raise awareness around the harmful effects of these hunts including drastic population declines of wild cetaceans and threats to human health for people consuming meat and blubber.
Since plastic production began in the 1950s, plastic debris has been accumulating in our marine environment. In just one week, from bottled water alone, the US produces enough discarded bottles to circle the planet five times