SACK THE SACHET

SIR,

Globally some 855 billion sachets are thrown away every year. That’s enough to wrap the entire surface of the earth. If you placed a year’s worth of sachets end to end, they would stretch 72 million kilometres – equivalent to 189 trips from earth to the moon. We have become slaves to the sachet. Unless urgent action is taken we are set to use one trillion of them by 2030. And almost all of these packets will be made of plastic. Ketchup, soy sauce and mustard; shampoo and moisturiser; towelettes and face wipes, washing powder and detergent - even milk is sold in a single-serve, single-use plastic sachet. Billions of plastic composite sachets each year are destined for landfill, incineration or most likely, end up in our environment. They are the ultimate symbol of our grab and go, addicted-to-convenience lifestyle. Uncollectible, unrecyclable and valueless, they pollute our planet at an increasing rate. Solutions are available today, using systems and materials nature can easily handle. The time for excuses has long gone. Campaign group A Plastic Planet believes it’s time to call a halt to the lunacy that is the plastic sachet. We agree. That’s why today we’re calling for global business leaders and politicians to urgently work together to end the curse of the plastic sachet for good. Now more than ever before, it’s time to sack the plastic sachet.

Princess Esméralda of Belgium Journalist, Author and Documentary Maker Ambassador Peter Thomson United Nations Secretary-General's Special Envoy for the Ocean Richard Walker Managing Director, Iceland Foods Sian Sutherland Co-founder, A Plastic Planet Jonathon Porritt CBE Environmentalist and writer Mark Spalding President, The Ocean Foundation, Washington D.C. Julio Bruno CEO, Time Out Group plc Ben Goldsmith Financier and Environmentalist Lewis Pugh

UN Patron of the Oceans Sara Vaughan Global Chief Purpose & Sustainability Advisor, Marie Claire Girish Menon Chief Executive, ActionAid UK Lord Triesman Crossbench Peer The Lord Bishop of St Albans Bishop Rt Hon Sir Desmond Swayne TD MP Conservative Member of Parliament for New Forest West Wera Hobhouse MP Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Bath Martyn Day MP Member of Parliament for and East Falkirk Yvonne Fovargue MP Labour Member of Parliament for Makerfield Ben Lake MP Plaid Cymru Member of Parliament for Ceredigion Andrew Thorton Founder, Thornton’s Budgens Jan Dell Founder, The Last Beach Cleanup Natalie Fee Founder, City to Sea Baroness D’Souza Crossbench Peer Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville Liberal Democrat Peer Lord Rennard Liberal Democrat Peer Lord Swinfen

Conservative Peer Baroness Jones of Whitchurch Labour Peer Baroness Harris of Richmond Liberal Democrat Peer Baroness Lister of Burtersett Labour Peer Dr David Aldridge Director of Research, Department of Education, Brunel University London Lord Haworth Labour Peer Lord Judd Labour Peer Lord Mackay of Clashfern Conservative Peer Lord Hylton Crossbench Peer Dr Anna Bogush Associate Professor, Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience, Coventry University Paul Foulkes-Arellano Founder, Sustainable Design Alliance Frederikke Magnussen Co-founder, A Plastic Planet Hugo Tagholm Chief Executive, Surfers Against Sewage Bella Lack Youth Ambassador, Born Free Foundation Andrew Gibbs Founder, The Dieline Helen Hayes MP Labour Member of Parliament for Dulwich and West Norwood Rachael Maskell MP

Labour Member of Parliament for York Central Caroline Nokes MP Conservative Member of Parliament for Romsey and Southampton North John McNally MP Scottish National Party Member of Parliament for Falkirk Andrew Selous MP Conservative Member of Parliament for South West Bedfordshire Graham Stringer MP Labour Member of Parliament for Blackley and Broughton MP Scottish National Party of Member of Parliament for North Ayrshire and Arran Baroness Blackstone Labour Peer Baroness Healy of Primrose Hill Labour Peer