Plastic pollution and environmental law

Plastic pollution threatens wildlife and worsens climate change.

Plastic is everywhere and from its production to its disposal, plastic has a huge impact on our planet. The process of extracting fossil fuels and converting them into plastic is highly carbon-intensive. When they are burnt, they release harmful chemicals and greenhouse gases. In our ocean they break down into micro-plastics that harm marine life and affect the way our climate is regulated.

Our team is dedicated to using the power of the law to push for long term solutions that stop plastic pollution.

2050

The year when the amount of plastic in the ocean could outweigh fish.

7.8bn

the number of tonnes of plastic we had produced by 2015 - more than 1 tonne for every person alive today.

How we're fighting plastic pollution

We push for new laws that limit the unnecessary use of single-use plastics, increase the transparency of plastic supply chains and make plastic producers responsible for the environmental and financial costs of dealing with plastic waste
We’re raising awareness among companies about the risks of plastics, from reputation damage to ending up in court and their legal duties to disclose and manage those risks.
We use the law to challenge plastic plants that are polluting their surrounding environments.

What we've achieved

Six

new EU laws have been brought into force that will make it harder and more expensive for companies to produce plastic new plastic production, thanks to our ambitious lobbying.

One

year - the amount of time we’ve bought for the environment after our first legal challenge against the expansion of a huge plastics factory – we will keep fighting to stop it from ever being built.