Impact of daily flushes on increasing microplastics highlighted by new Clean Sailors partnership

The new partnership between 100% glue and plastic-free toilet roll, Tanki, and Clean Sailors © Clean Sailors

The new partnership between 100% glue and plastic-free toilet roll, Tanki, and Clean Sailors, will work to inspire a shift in the boating and cruise communities away from traditional toilet papers which are high in glue content and therefore, microplastics.

Each year, in the UK alone, we flush more than 22,000 tonnes of glue down our loos, the majority of which ends up in our environment. Glue is made up of a variety of chemical compounds, most importantly, of plastic, which is used to bind it together as a substance and to give glue its viscosity and texture. Each time we flush loo paper down the toilet we are potentially adding thousands of microplastics to our waters.

Microplastics are now the most pervasive pollutant of our time, having been found in the deepest depths of the ocean (the Mariana Trench), within Antarctic ice, soil, human and animal bodies, and even the air around us.

Whilst the impact of our loo roll is world-wide, on land and sea, Tanki and Clean Sailors will look to promote cleaner, more sustainable practices by those who use, and directly impact, the ocean with their flushes - sailors, boaters and cruise operators.

"I am excited to partner with such a forward thinking organisation and work alongside such an inspirational and ambitious leader in Holly Manvell. Our business's core values align perfectly and with the Tanki brand being founded with the maritime industry at its core, it's exciting for me to continue to drive our company's agenda in this sector and work with Holly to help drive real change and offer a real time day to day solution to help our oceans and work hard to turn the tide in the war on plastic and more importantly now, microplastic," says David Hamlet, Managing Director at Tanki.

"Every household flushes their terrestrial toilets around five times a day - it's no different on our boats and ships. Going to the loo is entirely natural, contributing microplastic pollutants to our environment at the same time, is not. We can make a simple change here and I'm super excited to be working with our friends at Tanki to educate and inspire sailors, boaters and the cruise industry to think differently about our daily flushes." says Holly Manvell of Clean Sailors.

The partnership includes the provisioning of Team Outlaw, entrant of the 2023 Ocean Globe Race - a 27,000 mile round-the-world race leaving Southampton in September 2023. Team Outlaw are undertaking the gruelling adventure in support of Clean Sailors.

cleansailors.com

100% glue and plastic-free toilet roll, Tanki - photo © Clean Sailors