P for Plastic
Divers feel one with the water. This is true for the Plastic Soup Foundation too. We advocate for clean oceans and we urge everyone to joing this fight. Because if we continue like this, there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050. Our mission: we want the plastic soup to stop growing. We are trying to achieve this by dealing with the problem at source – and you can help us.
What can you do?
Divers have hand signals for cuttlefish, turtles, and sharks. They now also have one for plastic – the P. This hand symbol is used to let your diving buddy know that you see plastic in your vicinity and that you want to take it with you and dispose of it properly. If you love the ocean, share this signal as widely as you can.
Download the P for Plastic pictures and share our message! #PforPlastic #PlasticScubaSign
What else can you do?
Organise a Trash Hunt
In a Trash Hunt you clean up and record the litter you find with the Litterati app: you take a photo and then, we can map the waste and hold producers responsible.
Create a club with your diving school or friends within the app, or join the club: Divers for the Ocean. If you create your own club, choose Plastic Soup Foundation as an affiliate, because only then will we receive the information.
Go on a Plastic Diet
The health of animals is at stake, but so is ours. There is plastic in our food, water, and in the air. According to Our World in Data, every person in the Netherlands generates about 153 kilos of disposable plastic waste every year. It doesn’t have to be this way. Divers can make the difference by being careful about:
- Plastic straws: Around the world, we use more than half a million plastic straws every day! Order drinks without plastic straws or use reusable straws made of bamboo or stainless steel.
- Plastic bottles: Use a reusable bottle. If tap water is not drinkable in your area, buy water in large bottles to use less plastic, or boil tap water to make sure it’s clean before putting it in your own reuseable bottle.
- Suntan lotion: Many toiletries contain microplastics: tiny plastic particles that make products such as lotions waterproof. Even suntan lotions often contain microplastics; if you go swimming or take a shower, these plastic particles ultimately end up in the ocean and pose a major threat to coral. To avoid this, use products which are certified Zero Plastic Inside
Do you want to do more? Reduce your plastic footprint and follow a plastic diet!
Images say more than words
And that is why we are looking for visual material. Send us a video or photo of plastic waste (under or above water) or of animals that suffer from because of it: communications[at]plasticsoupfoundation.org.
