<
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/sep/24/single-use-plastics-ban-tabby-fletcher-jura-petition-scottish-parliament-msp>
"Tabby Fletcher, a 17-year-old from the Isle of Jura, off the west coast of
Scotland, lives in what many people would probably assume is a pristine
wilderness. Yet she regularly sees dead birds, their bodies entangled in
plastic, among piles of waste washed up on the island’s beaches after powerful
storms.
“In January, we had Storm Éowyn,” she says. “Huge storm surges brought piles of
plastic on to the beach close to my house. I saw dead birds wrapped in plastic.
It was obvious from little bits inside their decomposing bodies they had eaten
plastic.
“There was a dead goat too – its head stuck in a plastic fishing net. It’s
really horrible.”
She decided to start a petition calling on the Scottish government to ban all
single-use plastics. This has now received more than 26,000 signatures and the
backing of MSPs in the Highlands and Islands.
“Around 50% of the plastic we use in the UK is single use, and by cutting these
items out it creates a more sustainable footprint in the natural world,” she
says.
She describes images she has seen of red deer, which feed on seaweed, entangled
in washed-up fishing nets.
“If they are left to their own devices, they can starve to death. There are
fibres of plastic that come off the netting too,” she says.
Plastic endangers seabirds, seals and other wildlife through ingestion,
entanglement and toxic contamination, while microplastics – tiny particles from
broken-down plastic – pose a long-term threat to wildlife and human health. It
can contain any of more than 16,000 chemicals, many of them linked to health
issues.
The teenager says that although her community organises beach clean-ups,
plastic pollution is a growing problem that will only worsen unless action is
taken nationally.
“I’m from a very small community. You don’t get to aim big when you are
somewhere small,” she says. “So it’s good to see people writing to me and
having the same thoughts and beliefs as I have.
“I’m hoping that Scotland will become the first country in the UK to ban
single-use plastics. At the very least, we should have a conversation to prove
that it is possible.”"
Via
Positive.News
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
