Embargoed until 00.01am 13 July 2021
Bristol catches a beauty ‘Seacycler’ hits the water in Bristol Harbour to tackle pollution with plastic fishing trips 13 July 2021: Today a new vessel in the battle to clean up plastic pollution in Britain’s waterways – ‘Seacycler’ - will be unveiled in Bristol. Launched by environmental charity Hubbub, the 12-seater punt is made from 99% recycled plastic and will be permanently based in Bristol Harbour, a beautiful area spanning 83 acres that attracts many visitors each year but also considerable amounts of litter. Funded equally by Bunzl and Danone UK & Ireland, Seacycler has been donated to awardwinning education consultants Sustainable Hive. The boat will take local people out on ‘plastic fishing’ trips to raise awareness of the growing levels of plastic pollution in Bristol’s waterways and to educate local schoolchildren and businesses about the impact of litter on the environment and the value of recycling plastic. Seacycler is made from single-use plastic and is only the sixth of its kind in the world. The craftsman tasked with building the boat is expert boat-builder Mark Edwards MBE, who also built the Queen’s barge ‘Gloriana’. The design is based on a traditional punt, but it’s made from the most modern of materials – Plaswood. This hardwearing alternative to wood is made entirely from recycled plastic, some of which was repurposed from packaging recycled by employees at Danone’s UK offices. The vessel is powered by a rechargeable electric motor, making it the most sustainable of boats. The Lord Mayor of Bristol will today officially launch the boat and take part in its maiden voyage, departing the harbour near Underfall Yard. Following its launch, Seacycler will be moored at Young Bristol pontoon where plastic fishing trips will set off from. With each trip, the boat will help remove more plastic debris from Bristol Harbour, which will then be recycled and go towards making further boats with the same aim - a fantastic example of the circular economy in action. The first punt made from recycled plastic, the Poly-Mer, was launched in London in 2017 and so far has taken 2,700 people plastic fishing, collecting 2,819 plastic bottles from the Docklands to be used to build more recycled plastic boats. In 2019, Hubbub launched the plastic fishing tour which included a week-long visit to Bristol. 1,649 people went Plastic Fishing over the course of the year and 90% of volunteers pledged not to use a plastic bottle for a month after their experience.
Plastic fishing trips in Bristol Harbour will be available to local schools for free and to local businesses for a fee - those interested in taking part should contact plasticfishing@hubbub.org.uk. Gavin Ellis, Co-founder and Director of Hubbub, said: “While we have woken up to the problem of plastic pollution in our waterways, our canals, rivers and harbours continue to be filled with plastic litter which breaks down and is very harmful to wildlife. “By involving local schools and businesses in a fun and engaging way, the plastic fishing trips on Seacycler will not only help clean-up the harbour and reduce the impact of litter on wildlife, but it also demonstrates that plastic has a value and can be turned into something useful.” Clare Marshall, Director, Sustainable Hive, said: “The young people in Bristol are eager to make a difference to the litter in our waterways; they want to lead by example, be proactive and highlight the problem to others. Seacycler will enable us to work with this trailblazing crew to not only help keep Bristol Harbour clean but to also inspire other generations to do the same. Seacycler is exactly what we want to champion; education that is fun, thought-provoking and delivers change.” Richard Hall, VP of General Secretary, Danone UK and Ireland said: “We’ve worked with Hubbub on lots of innovative initiatives and this boat holds a special place for us, as our colleagues recycled some of the packaging from our offices to help create it. The boat offers a fun and hands-on opportunity to help engage people with the power of the circular economy, the importance of recycling and ensuring no plastic ends up as waste in nature. Plastic in the environment is a huge problem and brands must be part of the solution. Danone is firmly committed to the responsible use of plastic – ensuring all our packaging is recyclable whilst increasing the use of recycled content and supporting government and community recycling initiatives.” James Pitcher, Head of Sustainability at Bunzl plc said: “We know communities around the country want to find ways to protect our environment and make better use of natural resources. Seacycler will not only provide young people in Bristol with the opportunity to learn about some of the challenges we face, but also give them the opportunity to play their part and help keep our waterways clean. That’s why we’re delighted to be supporting this engaging initiative.”
ENDS NOTES TO EDITORS For more information contact the Hubbub team at Barley Communications: Maria Kortbech maria.kortbech@barleycommunications.co.uk 07952 507270 Katie Raby – Katie.raby@barleycommunications.co.uk 07896 533547
ABOUT HUBBUB Hubbub is an award-winning charity that inspires ways of living that are good for the environment. Hubbub designs trailblazing campaigns that make environmental action desirable; disrupting the status quo to raise awareness, nudge behaviours and shape systems. Since 2014 Hubbub has built collaborations with over 1,600 organisations, from international businesses to local authorities and community groups – inspiring over 800,000 people to take action and change their behaviour. This includes bringing together all the major coffee cup retailers to collect and recycle 5 million coffee cups in 1 year. Hubbub’s campaigns include #LeedsByExample which brought together 25 of the UK’s largest companies to boost recycling on the high street, a 3-year partnership with IKEA to create the world’s largest consumer-facing sustainability campaign ‘Live Lagom’ and creating a Network of over 150 Community Fridges across the UK, each redistributing on average 1.5 tonnes of food every month that would otherwise have gone to waste. Hubbub also runs campaigns to tackle litter, air pollution and climate change and to promote sustainable fashion. Their innovative approach saw Hubbub win the Charity of the Year Award at the prestigious Charity Times Awards in 2020. www.hubbub.org.uk Twitter: @hubbubuk Facebook: @HubbubUK Instagram: @HelloHubbub LinkedIn: Hubbub-UK
ABOUT PLASTIC FISHING In 2017, Hubbub and Canary Wharf College launched Plastic Fishing to raise awareness of litter, educate people about how it gets from land to the sea, and to most importantly, help them take action. Plastic Fishing was inspired by pupils, teachers and parents at Canary Wharf College who had heard about the approach from Amsterdam. We worked with the College to turn their idea into reality. In 12 months the first boat, Poly-Mer, took over 1,000 people Plastic Fishing around London’s Docklands collecting over 1,250 plastic bottles and generating nearly £10,000 in donations for the College. In 2018, The second boat, PET Project, was launched in Richmond, London. In 2019, Hubbub launched the Plastic Fishing Tour with the aim of giving away a new Plastic Fishing boat to a pro-active and committed community group. The Poly-Roger visited four different waterways – Manchester, Bristol, Birmingham and across central Scotland’s canals. A total of 599 amazing Plastic Fishers volunteered across the tour and together they collected over 2,233 plastic bottles and over 192 bags of general waste. Birmingham was awarded The Poly-Roger was awarded to The Wildlife Trust for Birmingham and the Black Country to help tackle plastic pollution in Birmingham’s waterways.
ABOUT PLASWOOD Plaswood recycled plastic lumber has been manufactured in Dumfries, Scotland, by BPI Recycled Products since 1995. BPI Recycled Products is the largest recycler of waste plastic films in Europe with an annual plastics recycling capacity in excess of 100,000 tonnes. Plaswood is manufactured 100% from a variety of recovered and recycled waste plastics including bottles, agricultural films plus post use plastics. Plaswood requires no maintenance and unlike wood will not rot, splinter or degrade with age. Plaswood is the environmentally superior alternative to conventional construction materials such as steel, concrete and wood with a much lower carbon footprint and energy consumption. http://www.plaswoodgroup.com
A B O U T S U S TA I N A B L E H I V E C O M M U N I T Y I N T E R E S T C O M PA N Y Sustainable Hive is an award-winning education consultancy specialising in engaging young minds and supporting teachers. We work with organisations who wish to create exceptional resources for schools by designing inspirational lessons, delivering workshops and leading campaigns. We also provide free support for teachers through our bank of resources and access to expert knowledge on our teachers website www. sustainablelearning.com which also hosts our free online game Sustainable Shaun which is available in 24 languages and played in 191 countries. www.sustainablehive.com hello@sustainablelearning.com
A B O U T D A N O N E ( W W W. D A N O N E . C O M ) Danone is a leading multi-local food and beverage company building on health-focused and fast-growing categories in 3 businesses: Essential Dairy & Plant-Based products, Waters and Specialized Nutrition. With its ‘One Planet. One Health’ frame of action, which considers the health of people and the planet as intimately interconnected, Danone aims to inspire healthier and more sustainable eating and drinking practices. By 2025, Danone aims to become one of the first multinational companies to obtain B Corp TM certification. Danone’s portfolio includes leading international brands (Actimel, Activia, Alpro, Aptamil, evian, Nutricia, Volvic, among others) Listed on Euronext Paris and present on the OTCQX market via an ADR (American Depositary Receipt) program, Danone is a component stock of leading sustainability indexes including the ones managed by Vigeo Eiris and Sustainalytics, as well as the Ethibel Sustainability Index, the MSCI ESG Indexes, the FTSE4Good Index Series, Bloomberg Gender Equality Index, and the Access to Nutrition Index.
ABOUT BUNZL PLC Bunzl is a growing and successful Group with operations in the Americas, Europe, and Asia Pacific. Bunzl applies its resources and expertise to reduce or eliminate many of the hidden costs of in-house procurement and self-distribution. The benefits to customers are a lower cost of doing business and reduced working capital and carbon emissions. Bunzl’s operations span across more than 30 countries. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange FTSE100 Index in the Support Services Sector with its global headquarters in London, UK.