Plastic Oceans: Interview with Lonely Whale’s Dr. Dune Ives

Over the past few years, the underlying repercussions of single-use plastics have become increasingly apparent. Every day, a new wave of plastic waste is deposited onto beaches around the world.

In fact, there could be as much as 150 million metric tonnes of plastic within our ocean today, according to the recent Breaking the Plastic Wave report led by Pew Charitable Trusts and SYSTEMIQ. Plastic production surged in the 1950s owing to being durable, lightweight, and flexible. These once attractive properties have transformed plastic from an innovation material to one of the biggest environmental threats of our time. 

Given that 800 marine species are knowingly affected, the full extent of plastic’s harmful reach is still unknown. Current research in the Arctic has found microplastics present in deep-sea sediments and even sea ice, with 6,000 particles in every 2.2 pounds of mud and 13,000 particles in every 2.1 pounds of melted ice (nationalgeographic.com). The no-end life of plastic makes this durable product a solution and a problem. Single-use plastics such as bags, straws, and plastic bottles are the worst offenders; these products are thrown away to landfills and eventually end up in our ocean. Every day, 500,000 straws are used, and by the end of 2017, only 8.4 percent of plastic waste was recycled. 

Lonely Whale is one of many organizations driving impactful campaigns and initiatives to raise awareness and initiate action towards plastic pollution and ocean health. The recent Pew report states that by 2040 we can reduce plastic pollution by 80 percent. ECO Magazine spoke to Dr. Dune Ives, CEO of award-winning Lonely Whale, on this topic. We discuss her thoughts about the report and the state of plastic pollution today and discover how Lonely Whale and Ives are helping the movement. 

“The Pew report is as comprehensive as the report can be, utilizing data available at the time, but that was pre-COVID19,” says Ives, an expert in sustainability and environmental business issues across industries.

With the circumstances surrounding the pandemic today, single-use Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) is unavoidable. “There has been a dramatic rise in the production in the number of disposable plastic items produced, such as face masks and gloves, which we know are entering the ocean already,” she adds.

Post-COVID19 reports noted the enormous number of PPE masks found in and around the ocean, adding to the problem daily. Estimates suggest that we use around 129 billion face masks and 65 billion gloves a month (bbc.co.uk/environment); this medical waste has been spotted worldwide in countries like Hong Kong, Turkey, France, and many more.

Ives continues, “Throughout the pandemic, we have seen disposables in restaurants and a collapse of the recycling infrastructures, not only in the States but all over the world.”

Ives believes the report is helpful in framing the extent of the problem, but new changes enforced to fight the pandemic must be considered. “As the public are rightly distracted by the pandemic, we see an increase of single-use plastic in the home as people are confined to being indoors and not outside.” This is based on statistics of national polls in North America.

“Because people are not moving about anymore, there is a decrease in the utilization of single-use plastic water bottles, which hopefully continues,” said Ives.

Although the use of plastic bottles is decreasing, with the increase of certain household single-use plastics, Ives is disappointed in the lack of industry innovations on ensuring a proper end of life, especially with a continued increase of plastics going to landfill.

Lonely Whale has been one of the most impactful organizations in plastic-focused campaigns and proven successful in encouraging the public to fight against plastic pollution. Their Strawless in Seattle campaign, with the slogan #StopSucking, is the first of its kind. This campaign used businesses and cultural icons to highlight the importance of replacing plastic straws for biodegradable alternatives.

“With the straw campaign, our goal was to get people to know that there was an ocean. To recognize there's a thing out there called an ocean, and we need it,” said Ives. “We wanted to spark a global dialogue.” Strawless in Seattle used ‘light-hearted comic energy’ to engage the public. In 2017, 2.3 million straws were permanently removed from the city in September alone. 

Piggybacking off of the success from “For A Strawless Ocean”, Lonely Whale launched “Question How You Hydrate” and the pop-up Museum of Plastic to empower consumers to choose and champion sustainable alternatives to single-use plastic water bottles and create a movement to phase out single-use plastic water bottles.

Another incredible program includes the Ocean Heroes Network, a program co-founded by Captain Planet Foundation,Point Break Foundation and Lonely Whale, turning the youth of today into proactive and passionate environmentalists. This international program educates young people on running campaigns that persuade their community to get involved and work together to create a plastic-free world. “This concept of a summer camp for ocean activists brought together kids from all over the world. We talked with them about campaigning and have them teach us about campaigning, and we wanted to see what would happen.”

Lonely Whale also convenes NextWave Plastics, a collaborative consortium of big brands working together to decrease the volume of plastic in the ocean by creating a global network of ocean-plastic supply chains. Brands involved include Dell Technologies, Bureo, CPI Card Group, General Motors, Herman Miller, HP Inc., Humanscale, IKEA, Interface, Solgaard and Trek Bicycle. This initiative creates a circular recycling method that also lowers wasted materials. So far, it has prevented 850 metric tonnes of plastic from entering the ocean.

In just two years, NextWave Plastics has grown to 11 members, with the newest member, CPI Card Group, announced recently. There are also plans underway for new innovations. For example, Trek bicycles have recently introduced grips for mountain bikes that utilize ocean-bound plastic in fishing gear.

The most recent news from Lonely Whale features their podcast, 52 Hertz, an exciting and informative program whose first season, Against the Current, shares inspirational stories with their listeners. Hosted by British actor and eco-activist Petrice Jones, these real-life accounts focus on the people going against the norm and are relentless in their pursuit to fight against plastic pollution with guests including Actor, Filmmaker, Environmentalist, Musician, and Philanthropist Adrian Grenier, youth activists, like 19-yr. old Steff McDermott from the Cayman Islands and the backpacking drag queen and intersectional environmentalist Pattie Gonia. The idea of the 52 Hertz podcast was that of the Lonely Whale team during the COVID-19 pandemic. When traveling became difficult, they wanted to generate a project that kept inspiration alive in a dark time. “There are a lot of incredible stories of the work other people are doing that inspires us to keep fighting,” said Ives.

“We wanted to go back to our roots and listen intently to the community. We wanted to share something that might inspire someone to do the same thing; to wake up on a typical Thursday morning and decide that today was the day you were going to change the world.”

Lonely Whale is still moving forward with the campaigns despite limitations. “We are in the process of having a new campaign launch hopefully in 2021” explains Ives, with updates to come in the near future. Furthermore, with “our current Ocean Heroes program, our goal is to have 100,000 kids across 75 countries trained by 2025.” This program connects aspiring Ocean Heroes to come together to develop campaign plans and empowers emerging youth leaders.

So, what more needs to be done? As the severity of plastic pollution increases, so do technologies to help clean-up plastic, from the Ocean Cleanup’s Interceptor to the Bubble Barrier by Waternet. Although these innovations are essential, Ives believes the best way to stop a flooding bathroom is by turning off the tap. “If industries made the end of life solutions for their packaging, we wouldn’t need ocean and beach clean-ups. There are a lot of creations because industry has not taken care of this problem and more funding is needed to develop these solutions,” said Ives. “We should also stockpile used cardboard and paper as there is an opportunity from a policy standpoint to create tax incentives for funding circular waste. Above all, the industry needs to decide whether it is going to help solve this problem, join the rest of us, and make a difference.”

By Elise Poore, ECO Contributor

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