Our campaign to #TaxPlasticPolluters

It’s been an exciting time for the RAW team lately – we’ve been to Glastonbury, unveiled a video from the RAW Foundation’s journey around South America and launched a new campaign urging government to #TaxPlasticPolluters.

Leading a world-first expedition, RAW founder Melinda Watson set off to track the world’s plastic footprint around South America.

The data she collected was so detailed that it’s been possible to identify the extent of the impact of global brands. Not only that, we can pinpoint the five biggest plastic polluters: Coca Cola, PepsiCo, MacDonalds, Nestle and Kraft Heinz.

Producers must pay

So, now we know the main culprits, we are calling on our government to take action. And we’re not the only ones. With the recent War on Plastic BBC series and the Surfers Against Sewage #GenerationSea petition, there has been a growing awareness that we urgently need powerful laws and an independent watchdog to enforce targets for government and big business.

It’s fantastic to see the collective and individual efforts to collect, reduce and recycle single-use pointless plastic and packaging, but sadly this is not a solution on its own and never will be. Without major action from government and big brands, we won’t see our way out of the plastic crisis.

Help us make change – sign our petition now!

That’s why we’ve set up an online petition to #TaxPlasticPolluters on Change.org. The campaign has got off to a brilliant start, and we want to say a huge thank you to all our supporters so far, some of who are featured below. If you haven’t signed yet, now’s the time – we need your support to help it snowball.

And this is just the start. With so many changes to government, now’s the time to keep up the pressure with our friends and partners to push this issue further up the political agenda.

Plastic pollution has reached a crisis point, and it’s up to us all to come together and take urgent action! Please join us – sign the campaign and share it with your networks today.

Thanks for your support so far

We’ve been overwhelmed by all the support the campaign has received so far. Here are just a few examples of the people and organisations getting behind our mission…