Plastic Pollution and You!

Crab, Dab and Blenny are three friends who live in a beautiful rockpool. But their home, and even their lives, are threatened by plastic pollution. Fortunately, there are children on hand to save the day! What can you do to stop plastics hurting our planet? Crab, Dab and Blenny have some suggestions:

Crab, Dab and Blenny’s top 6 tips for reducing plastic pollution

It’s impossible for humans to avoid using plastic altogether, but even children can make small changes to their lives to reduce plastic pollution. Here are just a few ideas – even by just doing one of them, you can make a difference:

1. Never litter

Make sure you always take your litter home with you and put it in the bin. And make sure you put it in the right bin! If it can be recycled, put it in the recycling bin, not in the general rubbish bin. Rubbish left on the ground often blows into ponds and rivers, and may eventually end up in our rockpool!

2. Do a litter pick, like the children in the story

The litter pick scene in Crab, Dab & Blenny

There are lots of organised litter picks, particularly around river banks and beaches, which are great fun to do. They are often advertised on local social media etc. But you don’t need to be organised to pick up litter! You can do it on your way home from school or when you visit the park. Just make sure a grown up is with you and be very careful of sharp, and other dangerous objects (it’s a good idea to wear gloves!)

Peta likes to pick up litter when she’s out for a walk in the woods, or on the beach. Why don’t you do the same?

3. Reuse plastics when you’re crafting

Save plastic bottles, yoghurt pots and other rubbish in a box, so that when you’re next crafting for school or for fun, you can make your models, pictures etc with reused materials, rather than expensive little packets of new crafting materials. You can even make lovely art with the plastic rubbish you find on litter picks!

This plastic found on the beach will be reused in a colourful picture!

4. Use a reusable water bottle

It’s really important that people cut down on ‘single use plastics’ like plastic drinks bottles that are only used once, then thrown away. So make sure that when you go to school or out to play, you take your drink in a reusable bottle.

5. Say no to plastic straws

Plastic straws often end up on beaches, and in rockpools like ours. So please drink straight from your glass or cup or use reusable straws made from metal or bamboo.

Here’s a plastic straw that ended up in Crab, Dab and Blenny’s rockpool

6. Ask your school to become a recycling point for crisp packets

Most children love crisps and eat quite a few of them! At the moment, crisp packets can’t be recycled through normal recycling, however, they can be recycled by Terracycle. Why not ask your teachers if you can set up a collection point at your school?

Where to find out more

If you haven’t read Crab, Dab & Blenny yet, you can buy it from Peta’s online shop

For children who want more facts about plastics in the ocean, Neal Layton’s non-fiction book is fab!

These resources are also really worth a look: