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Hi John,
An important point first 👉 MPs are in recess at the moment which means they're focusing on work primarily in their communities. This is a great time for you to speak with your MP about sewage and plastic pollution.
Plastic Free July was a big month! We launched our Brand Audit to highlight just how much plastic big brands are pumping out, plastic that ends up in our environment.
Defra finally gave us clearer guidelines about the requirements for Designated Bathing Water applications. Bad news, they're ill-informed.
🌟 We have a new Director of Campaigns and Communities.
🌊Want to fund our ocean-saving work? Here's a little nudge to say we rely on donations. If you like what we do, can you spare as little as £3 a month? You'll help us to continue all the work that we do to protect the ocean.
A sea of plastic 🥤
At the end of June, the Plastic Soup Surfer (meaning the sea is a soup of plastic), headed for Parliament, an 1800km trip windsurfing from Oslo to London. He's a surfer, biologist and campaigner, and came with a strong, clear, message.
👉Deposit return schemes are the best way to combat plastic litter.👈
Over 40 other countries have implemented them, so now it's time for the government to adopt a DRS here in the UK. The government continue to dither and push back timeframes. It's not good enough. We hosted a session with the the Plastic Soup Surfer and met with MPs and minsters to let them know.
Big brands exposed in the Brand Audit 📢
We launched our Brand Audit Report with an event on home-turf. At the Jubilee Pool in Cornwall, we filled the water with one day's worth of plastic used in Penzance. Our incredible community and Plastic Free Penzance collected up thousands of bottles, provided by homes, schools and businesses. We were able to create an impactful display, "Swimming in Plastic," to highlight how much plastic could be captured by a deposit return scheme.
At the beginning of July, seven weeks into the bathing season, Defra updated it's guidance for communities applying for designated bathing water status for their local blue space. Disappointingly, we were already half-way through a bunch of applications. We asked for more clarity, but we don't like the answer.
Proposed sites must:
💩 Be proven to have at least 100 bathers a day during the bathing season! And that's excluding other water users such as paddleboarders or kayakers.
💩 Have toilet facilities bathers can use during the bathing season, within a short distance of up to about 500m from the site.
Defra have misunderstood that inland sites are used differently to coastal locations. Dippers have their favourite stretches of river to swim, meaning that water-users are scattered up and down, not collectively 100 in one area. And most people use the water and head home, not like at the beach where you spend the day and need loos nearby. They've missed the mark on this one.
Introducing our new Director of Campaigns & Communities 🥳
Following on from the launch of our Brand Audit, which brilliantly demonstrated the power of community-led campaigns, we are delighted to announce that Dani Jordan will be starting with us in mid-August as our new Director of Campaigns & Communities. Take a look at our announcement here.
You'll be seeing a lot of Dani around here! 🙌
Take a look at some ocean news from July...
🌊 Climate change is changing the colour of the ocean Study finds climate change is changing the ocean's color - The Washington Post
🌊 Last week, deep-sea mining was up for debate. Meetings took place at the International Seabed Authority (ISA) Assembly, to decide on a draft exploitation regulations on deep-seabed mining.
🌊 The final phase of a historic clean-up will soon see swimmers and divers back in the River Seine. Paris to bring back swimming in Seine after 100 years - BBC News
🌊 Not quite ocean - but a water-win! ‘A wonderful moment’: Welsh reservoirs to reopen after 23-year battle | Wales | The Guardian
💩 There were 241 SEWAGE POLLUTION ALERTS in July💩
Across the UK, monitored by our Safer Seas and Rivers Service app.
For the ocean,
🌊 Jade, Communications Officer
