We live in a plastic world. Right now, only 24% of the 5 million tonnes of plastic used in the UK each year is reused or recycled. A recent study showed that 13 million tons of plastic waste enters our ocean every year. Predictions are that if nothing changes, by 2025 there will be about one kilogram of plastic for every three kilograms of fish in the ocean. Plastic is now recognised as one of the most significant and growing sources of pollution threatening ocean health.

One less bottle in the ocean

The #OneLess campaign is an initiative of the Marine CoLABoration, founded by Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, and aims to achieve a significant reduction in the number of disposable plastic water bottles used in London, making it the world’s first single-use plastic water bottle free capital.

Building on the work of the Project Ocean campaign, in which Selfridges permanently stopped selling disposable plastic water bottles from their stores – making the switch to alternative packaging, resusable bottles and free drinking fountains – the #OneLess campaign is taking it London-wide.

London is a coastal city with a direct route to the ocean via the River Thames, which carries a significant amount of plastic debris out to sea.

#OneLess wants to energise people’s engagement with the ocean and the importance of protecting it through an innovative and exciting project to reduce an over-reliance on environmentally and economically expensive plastic water bottles.

Making it easy for people to make the switch from disposable to reusable water bottles in London is full of potential for design, solutions, new ideas and citizen and business participation, which will significantly improve London for everyone who lives in and uses it.

The #OneLess campaign is the first joint project of Marine CoLABoration. It is hosted by the Zoological Society of London on behalf of the CoLABoration members and is also working with other partners to bring the project to fruition. It is funded by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and the Oak Foundation.

Marine CoLABoration was set up by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation to explore how the values of the ocean are reflected in individual and collective decision-making and can be tapped to increase ocean protection.

Become part of the solution

1. Make a personal commitment to stop using disposable plastic water bottles, replacing these with a refillable bottle.

2. Ask the Mayoral candidates to make disposable plastic water bottles a priority issue.

3. Take a selfie with your favourite refillable bottle and tweet it #OneLess, @onelessbtl

For more information, please email [email protected] or visit the Project Ocean website.

Photo credit: Plastic pollution by the Thames. Photo by Thames21.