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Prince Charles attended a Plastic Awareness Day in Cornwall during his visit (Image: IAN LEAN)
The Duke and Duchess of Cornwall visit their namesake every year, meeting with local businesses, charities and visiting the Duchy of Cornwall which Prince Charles manages.
The royal couple also visited the Isles of Scilly, opening a newly refurbished harborside restaurant called On The Quay.
Local grassroots movement Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) hosted an important Ocean Plastic Solutions Day which the Duke attended, to see the progress that Cornwall has made to prevent plastic pollution in oceans.
Currently, the world is using more plastic than ever, with estimates showing that at least eight million pieces of plastic are entering oceans every single day.
It’s ease to use, durability and cheapness to produce means that we are consuming plastic at incredible rates.
Two-thirds of plastic pollution in our oceans come from litter left on beaches, or washed down rivers and drains when rubbish is dropped in towns and cities.
Items flushed down the toilet, overflowing bins and badly managed landfill sites contribute to the level of plastic.
Currently, there are approximately 51 trillion microscopic pieces of plastic weighing 269,000 tonnes in our oceans.
The UK has committed £61million towards developing new ways of clearing up plastics, which was announced at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in April this year.
The Royal family have shown their support for the move, with the Duke of Cornwall attending the Ocean Plastic Solutions Day earlier this week to see how teams are working towards cleaner oceans.
Speaking exclusively to express.co.uk, Surfers Against Sewage CEO Hugo Tagholm said: “It was a huge honour to host His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales the for the Ocean Plastic Solutions Day and inform him on the progress Surfers Against Sewage has made towards our goal of plastic free coastlines.
“The commitment from His Royal Highness on ocean plastic pollution has made a huge difference in uniting multiple sectors of society to solve this crisis.
“This collaboration will be key in driving solutions. His support for the charity has also helped us grow our impact significantly, reaching a new national and global audience with our ocean advocacy, campaigns and volunteering programmes to protect oceans, waves and beaches for the future.”
Prince Charles is passionate about preventing plastic pollution (Image: IAN LEAN)
Plastic is choking up our oceans due to overflowing bins and littering (Image: GETTY)
Ocean Plastic Solutions Day followed on from a meeting in 2015 called Ocean Plastics Awareness Day, bringing together business leaders, innovators, NGOs, politicians and other key stakeholders to “discuss and demonstrate the progress society is making in tackling ocean plastic pollution from source to sea.”
Mr Tagholm said: “Since we first met in 2015, there has been a tidal wave of awareness of marine plastic pollution and a dramatic new response from communities, industry and government to deliver innovative solutions to stop the plastic tide.”
This years event saw famous faces meet to speak about “the world of ocean plastic solutions and sustainable design”.
Prince Charles has previously spoken about the “nightmare” of plastic waste polluting the world’s oceans, saying he fears it will only get worse.
Awareness in marine plastic pollution has soared in recent years (Image: GETTY)
SAS volunteers cleaning up Watergate Bay in Cornwall (Image: IAN LEAN)
The nightmare result of eight million tonnes of plastic entering the ocean every year is set to get worse rather than better.
At a meeting of environmentalists and business leaders at The British Academy in London earlier this year, he said: “The nightmare result of eight million tonnes of plastic entering the ocean every year is set to get worse rather than better.
“We cannot, indeed must not, allow this situation to continue… I do fervently pray that you will all do your utmost to work together in the coming year to make real, substantial progress.
“It could not be more critical that you succeed.”
How can you help prevent plastic pollution?
Mr Tagholm said: “Plastic is tangible; it is an issue that even the smallest action can result in direct improvement.”
Ways to help decrease the levels of plastic on our beaches and in our seas include:
• Join a beach or river clean, or do your own #MINIBEACHCLEAN;
• Lead a Plastic-Free Community and help your village, town or city reduce its plastic footprint;
• Download your Individual Action Plan to say goodbye to avoidable, single-use plastics;
• Become a member, volunteer or fundraise for SAS.
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