Join The Big Plastic Count!

“If you really believe in something you can make it happen and it’s okay to make it up as you go along.”*

Back in 2016, Dan Webb thought that plastic pollution happened in other parts of the world, not at home in the UK. But when he moved out of London to the coast, he was really shocked to see how much plastic pollution there was on the beaches, and decided to do something about it.

Inspiration

He started to realise just how much packaging there was, the amount that he was bringing home and wondered how much he was throwing away. What was actually happening to all of his plastic waste?

This is where Dan’s story differs from most of ours. 

He decided not to throw away a single piece of plastic waste for an entire year.

He made sure that none of the plastic waste he produced would be thrown away. No bottle tops, no inner soles from his shoes, no toothbrushes, no toothpaste packets… 

Towards the end of the year there were 4,500 pieces of plastic in 22 bin bags piled in his spare room! It took four days with 20 volunteers to separate, count, categorise, photograph and weigh every single piece, and he knew that he had a story to tell!

Telling the story

By offering this experience to others, he realised it would help them discover their own plastic footprint and galvanise and inform them, and so the Big Plastic Count was born.

Dan trialled the project for almost two and a half years. The brief was simple. All you had to do was count your plastic waste for just a week (not a year) and then submit your results online. This provides you with real data to help you understand and reduce your own plastic waste.

Working with Greenpeace UK, the Big Plastic Count went national, and since 2022 472,000 people have taken part and they have counted 11 million pieces of plastic.

Join the count!

That was how Everyday Plastic got started. If you would like to take part in this year’s Big Plastic Count (9 - 15 March), or just want to make a change, then find out more here.

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For more information contact: info@scarabtrust.org.uk

Images

Beach plastic UK - image by author

screenshot from www.everydayplastic.org/

*Dan Webb, founder Everyday Plastic