Olympic champion Hannah Mills on preventing pollution in our seas

Around 8 million tonnes of plastic end up in our oceans every year and makeup 80% of all marine debris from
surface waters to deep-sea sediments. We’ve all seen that episode of Blue Planet and know how sea life can get
caught up in plastic waste that causes injuries and deaths. And we are waking up to the impact it is having on our
climate and environment.

But there is some good news too – a pioneering programme has saved 20,000 tonnes of plastic going into the
waterways and then on to the oceans around the world. Because that plastic has been saved and recycled, it has
saved an additional 50,000 tonnes of CO2 (by not using new plastic).

It is probably quite hard to imagine what 20,000 tonnes really looks like – but if you were to imagine 200 Blue
Whales (the largest animal) next to each other – that is the equivalent.

Aston spoke to 2 time Olympic gold medalist Hannah Mills MBE and Raffi Schieir from Prevented Ocean Plastic.

Photo by Thomas Vimare on Unsplash