We are funded a short video to raise awareness of the need to reduce single-use packaging in order to minimise marine litter. Around 80% of marine litter comes from land; the largest share being plastic items from take-out food and beverages. 

The use of packaging is increasing and most of this marine litter goes unnoticed, as currents move it away from the coast and the litter ends up in ‘plastic traps’ such as submarine canyons and cliffs, or eventually on the abyssal plain. It is not feasible to clean up this debris. Non-selective fishing gears that catch everything that lies on the seabed devastate marine bottom habitats; removing items from remote, deep areas is technically and economically non-feasible; and compostable plastic does not degrade under ocean conditions. The solution is therefore to move away from the throw-away culture to increased reusability. The public must be alerted to the severity of the problem.