Take action against plastic pollution
We’re going up against the big polluters and systems keeping us locked in plastic. It’s time to end the consumer blame game and make the profiteering polluters accountable.
Get ready, because we’re about to turn up the heat and shake up the status quo. And trust us, you won’t want to miss it.
Join the People Vs. Plastic fight today. Together, we can turn the tide and put an end to plastic pollution.
Find out how to join the movement below.
Make the UK a cleaner and greener place to live by cleaning up our outdoor spaces! Help build our evidence base by recording what you find. We want to find out exactly what the most polluting items are, and who the biggest polluters are, to help drive the change we urgently need.
Expose the scale of the pointless single-use plastic still plaguing the UK. Share the most ridiculous #PointlessPlastic you find to help us highlight how much work still needs to be done.
Through the power of the people, we’re going to put plastic back on the map – exposing the scale of the problem and highlighting the mass public demand for change NOW. More info coming soon. Sign up to our newsletter to stay tuned.
Use your voice and let your favourite brands know you want to see them take action to reduce single-use plastic. Read our last Brand Audit report to find out who the top polluting brands are and stay tuned for more action on this soon.
Our communities and schools campaigns are at the forefront of the drive to eradicate pointless single-use plastic.
Sign up to our newsletter to be the first to hear about our campaigns, news and events. Get action alerts straight to your inbox so you can join the fight against plastic pollution.
We can't deliver these change-making campaigns and take on the polluters without funds provided by our members and donors. We rely on people like you, who are willing to take a stand, to fuel our fight. Join today, for as little as the cost of a cup of coffee.
As well as calling out who the top polluters are, we want to expose the lack of commitment and bad industry practice from brands and retailers across the board. We’ll be highlighting their dirty greenwashing, lobbying, and how they’ve been falling behind on their reduction and reuse targets.
Our 2023 Brand Audit revealed that the Dirty Dozen (top polluting brands) were responsible for 70% of all branded pollution collected on cleans across the UK – with Coca Cola coming out in first place once again. Brands and businesses are still not doing enough to reduce plastic packaging and switch to reuse models.
This year, many of these brands (including coca cola) quietly dropped their un-met 2025 targets to reduce plastic pollution, and replaced them with washed out “commitments” in the hopes that no one would notice. But we are watching. And we won’t let them get away with polluting our environment for profit any longer.
Stay tuned for more action on this soon.
We’re going to pile the pressure on and ensure the government introduce already promised legislation, without further delay, and commit to new ambitious action to drive us towards the zero waste economy they’ve promised. Read our End Plastic Pollution report to discover how the UK can End Plastic Pollution and stay tuned for more action on this soon.
Surfers Against Sewage is a leading voice in the battle to eliminate plastic pollution, mobilising and empowering a nationwide network of Ocean Activists to take action and make a difference. We connect people power on the ground with businesses and changemakers to set policies and pass laws that focus on reducing, reusing and refilling, to shift our broken consumerist throwaway economy into a model that is sustainable, responsible and clean.
We are working with around 700 communities up and down the county to rid their local communities of plastic by becoming a Plastic Free Community. Over 4,000 schools are now signed up to become a Plastic Free School with the next generation leading the way. Each year over 100,000 passionate ocean activists get up and out to clean our beaches, streets, rivers, parks and mountains through the Million Mile Clean. Together we’ve removed over 1,000,000kg of plastic pollution from the environment. And we are pressuring government to adopt new policies that will stem the tide of plastic washing into the ocean and rivers.
And we’re not done yet. Because Plastic Pollution is still a huge threat, with the UK producing 5 million tonnes of plastic waste a year, including 15 million single-use plastic bottles a day. We demand an end to Plastic Pollution, and we need your voice, energy and enthusiasm to get there.
Systemic change is urgently needed to end the pollution swamping the land and ocean. Businesses need to take responsibility for their polluting products and transition to models of reduction and reuse. Legislation, such as an ‘all-in’ deposit return scheme and bans of non-essential items (plastic bottles anyone?!), needs to be introduced urgently to transition the UK towards a circular economy. The government must commit to ambitious action to move us from a system keeping us locked in pointless plastic, to one which is circular and fair. And they must hold polluting companies to account.
We have been told that we’re reliant on plastic – even though the vast majority of single-use plastic we consume serves us no use. We have been told that recycling is the answer, despite knowing full-well it’s not a viable solution alone. It’s time to end this consumer blame game and make the profiteering polluters accountable for their waste.
Aside from the obvious of cleaning up our land, rivers and seas to help prevent the devastating impacts plastic has on our environment and all that live within it (including us), ending plastic pollution through systemic change will have an array of other benefits including:
Investment in skills-based circular economy jobs increases employment and household income, leading to economic growth. Money spent in the UK on Circular Economy services will continue to circulate within the UK.
Ending plastic pollution will require a shift to a circular economy. This means a massive increase in skills and employment around R&D, reuse, repair and remanufacturing, and manufacturing reusable products.
Many single use plastics are imported. Reducing these imports means less money leaving the UK, which can instead be focused on UK manufacturing of high-quality circular products.
Protecting people against increasing prices, inflation, and shortage of supply of imported goods. By moving to an economy that’s supported by more high quality and sustainable products and services produced in the UK, and maintained through reuse, repair and remanufacturing.
By focusing on green growth and UK manufacturing, we will decrease our reliance on individual markets and suppliers overseas, avoiding risks in supply bottlenecks and increasing resource security.
Through low carbon products and services based on circular economy principles.
Reducing plastic waste and reducing the practice of exporting plastic waste from the UK to countries where it is found dumped or burnt irresponsibly, stimulating UK markets for resources and waste industries.
Despite the UK having a long-standing commitment to reducing plastic waste, the reality is that only a small fraction of all plastic waste generated in the UK is recycled – an estimated 9.5%. This figure is far below the European Union (EU) average of 22.5%. And in fact, less than 10% of the plastic ever produced globally has ever been recycled, with the rest ending up in landfills, incinerated, or as we know, in our ocean.
So, what’s stopping us from recycling out of this mess?
Quite frankly, the global recycling system is overwhelmed. And the same goes for the UK – who rely on exporting plastic waste to other countries due to insufficient infrastructure to handle the problem. We produce and consume too much plastic, and recycling systems just can’t keep up with the colossal volume of plastic.
There are also serious limitations to recycling – particularly when it comes to plastic. Plastic can’t be recycled forever. Unlike materials such as aluminum or glass, plastics degrade each time they’re processed so can only be recycled a number of times before they’re doomed to landfill or incineration. And we’ve not even started talking about the contamination issues or amount of energy needed.
Recycling isn’t a magic fix (despite what brands and business might tell you). It’s a small but important part of the solution. So, whilst we do need the UK government to improve recycling rates (e.g. through finally introducing an all-in Deposit Return Scheme), we also need more drastic and urgent action from government that focuses on solutions championing reuse and refill, and that reduces plastic production in the first place.
Whilst we do all carry our own individual responsibility, and hold power as consumers in where we choose to spend our money, plastic-free options are often more expensive than their pointless plastic counterparts. And that’s if an option is even available at all. Mass producers of plastic are forcing us into a corner where we have limited or no choice to reduce our plastic consumption.
Plastic can be incredibly useful. Diabetics use it for syringes, arthritic patients rely on it for hip replacements, and construction workers wear it to protect their heads. Without it, we wouldn’t have computers, mobile phones or cars. The big problem? Single-use plastics and the eye-watering quantities we consume. You might use a plastic bag for just 15 minutes, but it will last for life…
But single-use plastic items can also be essential for people with disabilities. It can be a lifesaver, provide independence, and essential dignity and comfort to many. Some examples of common single-use plastics disabled people might need include (but are not limited to):
Read our strategic national action plan to End Plastic Pollution.
Who are the #DirtyDozen filling the ocean with their single-use packaging? Find out which brands are the worst offenders.
Find out how YOU can make a difference and become a plastic-free community.
Message in a Bottle: Only half the plastic bottles we use in the UK are recycled, and each mile of the UK’s coastline is littered with over 150 plastic bottles. In 2018 we led a cross-party delegation of MPs and charities to deliver a petition with over 300,000 signatures calling for a UK-wide deposit return scheme (DRS) that would encourage people to leave single-use plastic bottles and drinks containers in the recycling economy rather than in the environment. The campaign saw the Government announce a plan for the introduction of a scheme, a huge step forward. But there is still work to do…
Return to Offender: During 2020 we struggled to run cleans because of lockdowns and social distancing rules. But that didn’t stop us taking action. Our Return to Offender campaign encouraged individuals to collect plastic pollution during their daily exercise, snap a photo of it, and share it on social media to call out the businesses’ production of plastic waste, and put pressure on Government to drive forward on key plastic pollution policies to stop it. The evidence gathered fed into our 2021 Brand Audit, a published report where we analysed and called out the worst plastic offenders to spotlight the need for change.
Mermaid Tears: In 2009 we ran a campaign to encourage sign up to Operation Clean Sweep, an initiative to raise awareness of resin pellet loss in plastic production and encourage businesses to adopt and implement its principles to minimise pellet waste impacting the marine environment and harming wildlife. Since our Mermaid Tears campaign, a total of 298 UK plastic product producers have pledged their commitment.
No Butts on the Beach: Cigarette butt waste is a significant contributor to marine plastic pollution. Over the past decade we have run a series of stunts and protests to call for local authorities to create designated beach smoking zones with effective, well-managed cigarette butt bins, as well as litter control measures and public information to minimise cigarette waste.
Surfers Against SewageSystemic change is urgently needed to end the plastic pollution swamping the land and ocean. Businesses need to take responsibility for their polluting products and transition to models of reduction and reuse. Legislation such as an ‘all-in’ deposit scheme needs to be introduced urgently and governments must hold these companies to account.
