Bluewater Champions Fight Against Plastic Pollution, Outlines Season of Action

Stockholm, Sweden, April 20, 2018 -- While Earth Day cleanups kick into gear, Bluewater outlines a season of activity to turn the tide against plastic pollution, including a one million dollar water innovation challenge and forthcoming ocean summit at the U.S. stopover of the Volvo Ocean Race in May.

“Today, ocean plastic pollution is a grave threat to the health of the planet and its inhabitants, and we add to it daily with single-use plastics like bottled water, plastic straws and throwaway shopping bags,” said Anders Jacobson, Bluewater President. “Alarmingly, research by Orb Media has revealed that 93 percent of tap water samples contained minute plastic particles such as polypropylene, nylon, and polyethene terephthalate (PET). On a positive note, such studies are helping to grow public awareness about the problem and increase opt-into solutions.”

European, Asian and U.S. society is more aware of the impact of plastic pollution today. A recent Bluewater survey revealed that 56 percent of the general US population worry their drinking water contains harmful contaminants and 60 percent actively take measures to help control what is in their drinking water. Also, a Pew Research Center survey revealed that 75 percent of U.S. adults are particularly concerned about helping the environment.

Public policy is progressing, too. According to the US National Conference of State Legislatures, California and Hawaii have banned plastic bags outright, and major American cities including Austin, Texas, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle have also banned plastic bags.

In the UK, the government has proposed a ban on plastic straws, stirrers and cotton swabs following a 85% drop in the use of plastic bags after a 5 pence charge was introduced, while France and Italy have banned all plastic bags that are not biodegradable. China's decision to ban imports of recycled plastic from developed countries took effect in January and was hailed by the journal Nature as a game changer as it may spark a search for alternative that are sustainable.

“We all have a role to play to ensure plastic pollution doesn’t define our world’s health," added Jacobson. "Society has become addicted to plastic, which is impacting all aspects of our world's resources as well as our personal health – polluting waters, harming marine life, disrupting the human food chain and poisoning our bodies. We must continue to seek and employ solutions big and small, which is a key takeaway message from Earth Day.”

Season of Action

Bluewater is launching a one million dollar innovation challenge that will award the best solutions to global drinking water scarcity. As the official water provider of the around-the-world Volvo Ocean Race, Bluewater will be at Newport, RI in May 2018, Cardiff, Wales, Gothenburg, Sweden and The Hague, Netherlands, to provide clean, plastic- and other contaminant-free drinking water, promote clean oceans, and reduce single-use plastic during Race stopovers this spring and early summer. In South Africa, Bluewater water purifiers are helping sporting and other lifestyle events in and around Cape Town supply visitors with on-demand purified water from non-potable sources Bluewater partnered with Ekoplaza, a plastic-free European supermarket in Amsterdam, to provide plastic-free water to patrons generated on site by a Bluewater water station, and challenge supermarkets to reduce the usage of single-use plastics. Flint, MI -- Bluewater has donated four high-performance reverse osmosis hydration stations, each able to provide residents with up to 1,826 gallons of purified water per day. The unmatched water production generated locally on site helps cut the need for millions of single-use plastic water bottles every year. Bluewater's season of action aims to replace the equivalent of 1 billion standard-size plastic bottles with sustainably sourced purified water.“This isn’t a problem to be addressed once-a-year,” Jacobson noted. “Plastic pollution affects us all, on a cellular and global level, and we need to take swift and urgent action, year-round, against it.”Plastic Pollution’s Impact—The Need for Action

• World Economic Forum Report revealed by 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in the world’s oceans.
• Studies by the Ecology Center indicated plastic chemical additives can cause cancer, birth defects, genetic changes, bronchitis, infertility and a host of other serious adverse health effects.
• Plastic pollution is everywhere -- Orb Media found that a single liter of bottled water may contain thousands of micro-plastic particles.
• 19 billion pounds of plastic collects in the ocean every year. This estimate Is expected to double by 2025.
• Plastic bottled water isn't only polluting the environment, It Is poisoning human beings. A study revealed that 90% of tested plastic water bottles contained tiny pieces of plastic in the water.

In 2017, Bluewater launched a clean drinking water movement for a sustainable future without single use plastic bottles. For more information on the movement and Bluewater, please visit: www.bluewatergroup.com

#NoSingleUsePlastics

For more information, please contact David Noble, Head of PR & Communication, at david.noble@bluewatergroup.com or +44 7785 302 694