The Prince of Wales has made an impassioned plea for action to end the dumping of plastics in the world’s oceans - an issue that needs to be tackled for his future grandchild.

 

Charles called on governments, plastic producers and the public to act to end the littering of the seas which had left him “horrified”.

 

But he remained positive saying there was a solution to the problem caused by the “throw-away society”, and that society had to move quicker to a circular economy - where “materials are recovered, recycled and reused instead of created, used and then thrown away”.

 

The heir to the throne spoke at a day-long conference in Washington on plastics in the marine environment, attended by David Miliband, co-chair of the Global Ocean Commission which helped stage the event.

 

Charles told the delegates, who met at an exclusive Washington hotel: “One issue that we absolutely cannot ignore is that of the increasing quantity of plastic waste in the marine environment.

 

“I was horrified to learn that, according to recent research, we collectively allow as much as eight million tonnes of plastic to enter the oceans every year.

 

“Today, almost half of all marine mammals now have plastic in their gut and I know I am not the only person haunted by the tragic images of seabirds, particularly albatrosses, that have been found dead, washed up on beaches after mistaking a piece of plastic for a meal.

 

“The fact that a recent study estimates that by 2025 there will be one tonne of plastic for every three tonnes of fish in the sea is not what I call encouraging.”

 

Charles added that the solution to the problem was at hand and that “speaking as a grandfather with a new grandchild due to appear in this world in a month’s time, I think we probably owe it to everyone else’s grandchildren to grasp that solution.”

 

 

 

PHOTO: Kuta beach, Indonesia, strewn with plastic litter. Up to 83% of waste is mismanaged in the country.

CREDIT: Agung Parameswara/Getty Images.