- Plastic has only been around for a hundred years.
In this hundred years, we've managed to make this mess,
where the ocean almost, seems so full,
that it's throwing plastic back out to us on the beach.
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Well, it's such an amazing material.
It's so durable, it's so persistent,
it can last for, potentially hundreds, thousands of years.
- [Imogen] Once this is in the natural environment,
that means it's not gonna break down,
and it'll just keep accumulating,
and it's making our oceans into a big plastic soup.
So what we need to do is we need to turn off the tap.
We need to stop making as much unnecessary plastic as we do,
and start treating it as gold,
as this wonder material that we can keep using,
again and again and again.
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There in the 'Sea to Source' project,
it was looking at how a major river system,
can potentially be a conveyor belt,
for plastic going out to sea.
So I've best been called as a 'Plastic Detective',
that's a mobile within the team, that's the source team,
that are to investigate plastic in the air,
in the water, and in the sediment.
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It can be really interesting and confusing to know that,
plastic can get into our environment from loads of ways
that we wouldn't always, typically consider.
The first research piece that I did
looked at micro beads in cosmetics.
Now micro beads are tiny plastic particles
that were put into our facial scrubs to act as exfoliates.
So to help get the dead skin cells off,
to make our skin feel nice and smooth.
But no one knew how many micro beads
could be in one bottle of facial scrub.
So I was in the lab for hours and hours,
extracting all of these tiny micro beads,
and we found that 3 million could be in one bottle.
So a squirt on your hand,
that could be over 10,000,
that you're washing your face with.
They go down the drain,
potentially through the sewage treatment works,
and then into our ocean.
So it really opened my eyes that,
plastic is everywhere,
and in some sources that we wouldn't always,
typically, consider.
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This dress is actually made out of plastic.
I've got my plastic phone next to me,
a plastic water bottle-
so it's really revolutionized our lives
in loads of wonderful ways,
but, the problem is single-use plastic,
when it's this persistent material,
that can last for thousands of years,
but I'm only using it for a matter of minutes.
My own lifestyle, and it can be difficult sometimes,
but just try and minimize the amount of single-use plastic
that you take and that you need.
Sometimes it's impossible, and you might need it,
but with the help from industry and governments,
giving us those choices, hopefully in the next few years,
it should and should be made easier.
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Little changes can make a huge difference.
So example, if you're going to the supermarket,
and buying a facial scrub,
just make sure on the ingredients list,
that it doesn't contain micro plastics,
by looking for polyethylene.
It'll just take a few seconds of your day.
If you see some litter on the floor, and it's safe to do so,
pick it up and put it in the bin.
Wash your clothes only when you need to,
to stop tiny microfibers,
potentially entering the washing system,
and then going into our ocean.
So value the power that you have in your individual actions.
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