What Single-Use Plastic Alternatives Are There?

With #PlasticPollution being such a hot topic at the moment, what changes can you make to your everyday life to reduce single-use plastics and what plastic alternatives are available to you?

We have all heard of the damage that plastic is having on our planet, in fact, in recent years it’s become a pretty hot topic across the globe. It is believed that every single piece of plastic that has ever been made still exists today! This statistic really threw us, how can that be possible?

You have probably already seen the heart-wrenching photos online of turtles with plastic straws in their noses and birds with plastic six pack rings stuck around their beaks – but what can we collectively do to stop this? Here at wilsonhalligan we see it as our responsibility, as part of the yachting industry, to do our bit to reduce single use plastic and help to keep as much plastic as we can out of our world’s oceans. Have you been making any changes on board to eliminate plastic where you can? We offer wilsonhalligan metal straws at all events we attend and are always happy to send some out to your boat, should you want them! Just drop us an email at info@wilsonhalligan.com.

We have been chatting with Hannah Russell, who owns ‘Viveco’, Palma de Mallorca, supplying alternatives to single-use plastic all over the Med; Lisa Bloxsome, Owner of ‘Always Plastic Free’, Warsash and Angus Johnston of Ecoworks Marine. Here’s what they had to say;

“Lisa Bloxsome of Always Plastic Free in Warsash, opened the store to help change people’s ethos about single use plastics, she stocks Bamboo Toothbrushes, Bamboo Straws – most things you can think of to replace our use of plastic. She also has teamed up with Terracycle on a number of their programmes – collecting Crisp Packets, Pringles Cans and many more.”

For more details please check out the website www.alwaysplasticfree.co.uk or find her on Facebook – Always Plastic Free.

“With items like Bamboo Toothbrushes, Stainless Steel Straws, Soaps, Produce Bags and more we are always expanding our range with new innovative products. To save on shipping we offer a drop off point in Palma which we deliver to once a week. Hannah, the founder of Viveco is an ex Stewardess who is passionate about plastic reduction within the industry and Viveco Yachts delivers free to Marinas across Mallorca and offers a free consultation and advice service onboard.”

You can take a look at Viveco and get in touch with Hannah here https://www.viveco.co/.

“As a keen sailor and surfer, a clean environment is hugely important to me. It quickly became clear that true eco-friendly, marine cleaning products didn’t really exist in the yachting world. It was after this harsh realisation that I decided to start Ecoworks Marine in 2015. Luckily, my father was producing Eco cleaning solutions for the onshore commercial market so the formulas were ready to go as soon as I was.”

You can learn more about Ecoworks Marine and order samples and products from Angus today at www.ecoworksmarine.com.

We have compiled a list of single-use plastic alternatives and their providers in or near popular yachting destinations – for you to look at if you are keen to make a few changes, personally or on board!

Viveco – Palma de Mallorca, Baleric Islands

Always Plastic Free – Warsash, UK

Day by Day – Nice, France

Verde – Miami, Florida

Avani – Dubai, UAE

Sinplastico – Bilbao, Spain

To see what else you can do to help the plastic crisis, take a look at our previous blog here!