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The stark warning from the Foresight Future of the Sea Report comes amid renewed efforts to tackle pollution and stop it from causing irreparable damage to British shores. Two-thirds of all

plastic packaging in Britain ends up being put in a landfill or burned, according to research by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Rob Opsomer from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation said: “There

must be better recycling systems, which avoid confusion for citizens and have better economies of scale." Eight million tonnes of plastic - bottles, packaging and other waste - are

dumped into the ocean every year, killing marine life and entering the human food chain, says the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). If current pollution rates continue, there will

be more plastic in the sea than fish by 2050. And, The Marine Conservation Society warns that more than 70 per cent of rubbish that washes up on Britain’s beaches is plastic. The organisers

of 'Earth Day 2018' say they are dedicated to “providing the information and inspiration needed to fundamentally change human attitude and behaviour about plastics.” The first

Earth Day on April 22, 1970, in America, is widely credited with launching the modern environmental movement. The Earth Day Network's website says: “As the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day

approaches, the time is long overdue for a global outpouring of energy, enthusiasm, and commitment to create a new environmental paradigm. Earth Day 2020 can be the catalyst that galvanizes

an unparalleled global collaboration.” The UK Government’s latest proposals to tackle the harm done by plastics include a possible ban on plastic straws, drinks stirrers and cotton buds

from sale in England. Theresa May has said plastic waste was “one of the greatest environmental challenges facing the world” and the UK was taking a lead in tackling the problem. Last year’s

high-profile BBC nature documentary, Blue Planet II, fronted by David Attenborough, highlighted the damage plastic pollution is doing to the world’s oceans and wildlife. It showed the

environmental catastrophe that has led a million birds and over 100,000 sea mammals to die from eating and getting tangled in plastic waste. Professor Ed Hill, executive director of the

National Oceanography Centre, said it was time to change the attitude of what goes on below the surface as “out of sight, out of mind” and have more of a “Mission to Planet Ocean” approach.

He said: “When people get to see what is in the ocean, and the Blue Planet series and so on have helped people to visualise it, and then I think their reaction is twofold, one is complete

wonder at what is there, and in other cases complete horror at what we’re potentially doing to it. “It’s this sense of the unexplored world on our own planet, but also it’s important to us,

we know less about the bottom of the sea than the moon or Mars, but nothing lives on the moon or Mars, but things live in our ocean and they’re vitally important to us.” The British

Government has already taken steps to change how the British public use plastic. The five pence charge for a single-use plastic carrier bag among all retailers and packaging-free aisles in

supermarkets has already changed shopping habits. But the Environmental Audit Committee, a cross-party green watchdog, has also recommended a 25 pence "latte levy" to be charged on

top of the price of a beverage to combat the overuse of plastic-lined disposable coffee cups. Earlier this year, the Government also banned the use of plastic microbeads, common in body

scrubs and shower gels that end up in oceans. If Britain does make even more changes to address pollution, it may allow the UK to cash in on the global “ocean economy” – which is set to

double to £2 trillion by 2030. This economy will champion sustainability and other areas where the country is a world leader, such as offshore wind.