Pick Up 8!
MicroPlastics Campaign
The campaign is a joint initiative between
Blue Seas Protection and Sea-changers.
Pick Up 8! is designed to raise awareness of microplastics in the oceans, and to provide a quick solution to aid the mass removal of microplastics at scale, from all beaches and all watercourses across the globe:
Harnessing People Power to Help the Sea Heal.
Wild Nurdle
Plastic Beads
Hunt for Wild Nurdles and
Micro Plastics
Wild Nurdles may sound cute and cuddly, and microplastics can look like rainbows in the sand, but these are all 'wild' microplastics which have escaped into our marine and freshwater environments.
Nurdles are plastic beads that plastic manufacturers use to 'melt down' and mould into every plastic product that currently exists.
Microplastics are created when large plastic items break down into fragments over time, due to sun, wind and sea exposure. To help you spot them, we class microplastics as any type of plastic which is smaller than your hand but most are less than 1cm; so if we spot a 'hand sized' bit of plastic, we are instantly removing future microplastics! Unfortunately due to their tiny size, they are eaten by sea creatures and birds, and also by us when we eat seafood or processed food which has been manufactured with plastic products or packaging.
That's why we need your help and keen eyes to spot the plastic rainbow colours in the sand and to remove these brightly coloured microplastics from ALL water environments to prevent them entering the sea.
We encourage everyone to Pick up 8! pieces of microplastic every time you return from your stream, river, lake or beach walk...if everyone Picked Up 8, then together, the waterways, beaches and sea creatures will quickly become cleared of these wild naughty microplastics!
It will take our lifetime, as all plastics can take hundreds of years to completely breakdown. So every piece of plastic ever made, still exists. The problem now, is that people and animals are eating plastics by accident, and the plastic chemicals are now within our bodies, which Scientists now agree, can affect us. Scientists are currently studying the effects of plastic pollution 'within' human and animal bodies.
Pick Up 8!
Microplastics
Why Do We Need to Pick Up 8 Microplastics?
Microplastics are any type of plastic smaller than your hand, including tiny pellets of plastics called nurdles and biobeads, which can be eaten by Sea Beings as it fragments. There is no effective mechanical mechanism to remove microplastics from the oceans AT SCALE. BUT as people, we tend to spot things and are quite good, generally, at tidying up! If everyone on the planet Picks Up 8 microplastics, plastic pollution would be removed on a Global Scale every minute of the day.
So if you happen to spot any microplastics on the way back from your stream, river, lake or beach walk, Pick Up 8! Micro Plastics and Pop It In The Bin! If you don’t live near a beach then Pick Up 8! at ANY type of water environment, as all water ends up in the sea, so stopping microplastics entering the sea in the first place is direct action that you can take part in instantly.
Why Only 8 pieces? The number 8 is a Sea Number (number 10 is a Human Number!): 8 legs on a crab or octopus and 'Pieces of 8 Pirate Silver & Gold', so every time you Pick Up 8 it reminds us of the sea and why we are protecting it. Also, currently, there is so much microplastics it can seem overwhelming once you spot it, so a little and often is best: Pick Up a Maximum of 8 Microplastics each time, on the way back and no more - if you only spot 1 or 2, then just Pick Up 2 (don't go hunting for more, the maximum is 8 each time). Also pass on the Pick Up 8 message to those who ask what you are doing, so they can do it too!
How?
Everyone is invited to become ACTIVE-ists and upload images of their Pick UP 8! ‘Micro Plastic' Pieces of Eight Treasure to your group's social media channels to spread the message.
The rules of Pick Up 8! are:
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A Maximum of 8 Micro Plastics EACH person
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Pick Up 8 EVERY Time you LEAVE the Beach
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ONLY on the way back from your visit to a beach, river, lake or stream.
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Pop ALL microplastics in a landfill bin at the top of the beach steps or at home!
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Remember to wash your hands after handling microplastics AND before eating
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Pass on the Pick Up 8 message to 8 people you know
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Count 8 plastic items that you own and see if you can find an 'non-plastic' alternative
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When you buy anything, always look for a 'non-plastic' alternative first. Together, let's stop plastic being made for non-essential items
Simple, Quick, Easy Solution
We Got This!
Here's the Sciency Maths Bit...
1 person removes 8 pieces of Microplastic
2 dog walkers remove 16 pieces
1x family of 4 removes 32 microplastic pieces…
TOTAL: 56 Micro Plastics pieces
Instantly removed from the beach!
PLUS : 56 animals who didn't eat it!
There are 58 people on the beach + promenade
58 x 8 =
464 microplastics off the beach instantly
Click for the Answer...
If everyone Picked Up 8!...
How many pieces of microplstic will be removed from this beach?
When?
Pick up 8! is on a mission...
By 31st December 2088, let's aim to remove 8 Billion Pieces of Micro Plastics from the Global Seas.
Every Single Pick up 8! Counts
The Sea, Wind and Waves will help to throw microplastics up onto the beach or up against a wall, so we can Pick them Up and Pop the in the Bin Together!
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2 Billion
4 Billion
3 Billion
1 Billion
6 Billion
7 Billion
5 Billion
8 Billion Microplastics removed from the Ocean!
8 Billion