Hey, it’s Amanda and James, Less Plastic founders. It’s a long time since we’ve written a personal message, and we’re here now to share what we’ve been up to, and what’s next for Less Plastic CIC.
We launched Less Plastic in 2015, even before Blue Planet II, which aired in 2017 and turned out to be the moment when the UK woke up to the scale of the ocean plastic crisis.
We started by sharing images of Devon beaches strewn with plastic pollution to raise awareness of the issue, and creating infographics with simple tips for living with less plastic.
We were blown away by how popular the tips became and how many people contacted us from all over the world to translate and share in their communities.
In 2019, Amanda self-published a book, Plastic Game Changer, to provide businesses with a strategy to reduce plastic use, and showcase organisations who were leading the way, sharing their insights to inspire wider action.
In 2020, we launched a More Nature campaign, to encourage people to go further than reducing negative impact by restoring nature to repair the damage we’ve collectively caused, and provide hope for a better future. We used funds raised by Less Plastic CIC to support Nurdle’s microplastic beach cleaning tour, and install three Eco-friendly Moorings in Studland Bay to regenerate seagrass meadows which provide vital habitat for seahorses and other marine life.
Since then, we’ve both been fortunate to secure new jobs with environmental charities. Amanda is now running the Devon Environment Foundation, channelling funds to some of the most innovative and impactful grassroots nature-based solutions in the UK. James is using his commercial skills to head up Business Services for The Wildlife Trusts. For a while, a couple of brilliant freelancers kept Less Plastic social media active, but this wasn’t sustainable alongside our full-time jobs, so we looked for a trusted partner to take over the reins.
We have long-admired City to Sea for their humorous, creative, and highly effective campaigns to turn the tide on plastic pollution. Some of their best-known initiatives include #SwitchTheStick, #TheUnflushables, #PlasticFreePeriods, and the #RefillRevolution. We couldn’t think of a better organisation to take Less Plastic forward to its next chapter.
We wanted to share that we’re completely gifting Less Plastic’s social media channels, website, and resources to City to Sea, to help power their work. We hope this transparency might serve as inspiration to ignite other acts of collaboration, which ultimately strengthen us all, making us better equipped to address some of the biggest issues of our time.
If we take lessons from nature, acting symbiotically rather than competitively, we all benefit. Collaboration is a survival strategy, as is so perfectly summed up by this quote from one of our favourite books:
“What happens to one happens to us all. We can starve together or feast together. All flourishing is mutual.” – Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer.
We’d like to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who has supported Less Plastic, followed us, shared our content, and amplified our impact over the years. We’ve loved connecting with people who are determined to do all they can to reduce plastic pollution to protect people and planet.
We hope you will continue to support and follow Less Plastic as it evolves and becomes incorporated into City to Sea. You can learn more about City to Sea’s incredible work and follow them directly here. We can’t wait to see what they have in store for you! 💙
“We are showered every day with gifts, but they are not meant for us to keep. Their life is in their movement, the inhale and the exhale of our shared breath. Our work and our joy is to pass along the gift and to trust that what we put out into the universe will always come back.” – Braiding Sweetgrass.
