The Guardian has learned that 1 million plastic bottles are bought and sold every minute around the world. This amounts to more than 1 and a half trillion bottles per year and is only due to increase unless drastic measures are taken.

Former yachtsman and global navigator, Helen MacArthur writes:

“Shifting to a real circular economy for plastics is a massive opportunity to close the loop, save billions of dollars, and decouple plastics production from fossil fuel consumption.”

Hugo Tagholm, of Surfers Against Sewerage adds:

“Current science shows that plastics cannot be usefully assimilated into the food chain. Where they are ingested they carry toxins that work their way on to our dinner plates.Whilst the production of throwaway plastics has grown dramatically over the last 20 years, the systems to contain, control, reuse and recycle them just haven’t kept pace.

We are confident that with the use of smart packaging and the changes in home-delivery culture, that the amount of plastic bottles used by the general public can be reduced significantly and that MacArthur’s and Tagholm’s goals can be met.