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As you read this, an obscene amount of plastic is making its way into the oceans – in total, eight million tonnes a year, or a rubbish truck full of plastic every minute. There is now so much of it, an area cumulatively the size of France has formed in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Hawaii. With no one paying attention to this catastrophe, LADbible has teamed up with the Plastic Oceans Foundation to take this country-sized trash patch and turn it into the world’s 196th nation – named the Trash Isles.

This isn’t some throwaway idea. Oh no, on World Oceans Day (8 June) we submitted a Declaration of Independence to the United Nations to seek recognition of the Trash Isles as an official country.

Now, this is going to be a three-month campaign to get the country official recognition and we need your help- to be specific, we need you to ‘become a citizen’, to pressure the United Nations into approving our application and recognising the Trash Isles.

Become a citizen of Trash Isles

Why make it a country?

What better way is there to get world leaders to take notice of a problem than to stick it in front of their faces? Literally so - our application has to be read by all members of the UN Council.

Also if we become a country and a member of the UN, we are protected by the UN’s Environmental Charters, which state....

“All members shall co-operate in a spirit of global partnership to conserve, protect and restore the health and integrity of the Earth’s ecosystem”

Which in a nutshell means that by becoming a country, other countries are obliged to clean us up.

As you read this, an obscene amount of plastic is making its way into the oceans – in total, eight million tonnes a year, or a rubbish truck full of plastic every minute. There is now so much of it, an area cumulatively the size of France has formed in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Hawaii. With no one paying attention to this catastrophe, LADbible has teamed up with the Plastic Oceans Foundation to take this country-sized trash patch and turn it into the world’s 196th nation – named the Trash Isles.

This isn’t some throwaway idea. Oh no, on World Oceans Day (8 June) we submitted a Declaration of Independence to the United Nations to seek recognition of the Trash Isles as an official country.

Now, this is going to be a three-month campaign to get the country official recognition and we need your help- to be specific, we need you to ‘become a citizen’, to pressure the United Nations into approving our application and recognising the Trash Isles.

Why make it a country?

What better way is there to get world leaders to take notice of a problem than to stick it in front of their faces? Literally so - our application has to be read by all members of the UN Council.

Also if we become a country and a member of the UN, we are protected by the UN’s Environmental Charters, which state....

“All members shall co-operate in a spirit of global partnership to conserve, protect and restore the health and integrity of the Earth’s ecosystem”

Which in a nutshell means that by becoming a country, other countries are obliged to clean us up.

Become a citizen of Trash Isles

So, wait, the Trash Isles meets the criteria of an actual country?

You better believe it. According to Article 1 of 1993 Montevideo Convention on rights and duties of States, a country must be able to:

  • Define a territory
  • Form a government
  • Have a permanent population (this is open to interpretation and you can help us by registering to be one of the Trash Isles’ citizens. Don’t worry, you don’t have to move there)
  • Be capable of interacting with other states

So, all that criteria will need to be met; the Trash Isles will also have its own flag and national anthem, too. And if you think any of this is ridiculous then please consider the idea that THERE’S AN AREA CUMULATIVELY THE SIZE OF FRANCE MADE UP ENTIRELY OF WASTE PLASTIC IN THE SEA.

Why would you do that?

There comes a time when people have to say, ‘do you know what? Enough is enough’ and take action. Now seems like the time.

This isn’t about scaremongering, this isn’t ifs and buts, this is happening. People are polluting the oceans at an alarming rate and it’s not good for us, animals or the planet. Experts believe that by 2050 there’s going to be more plastic in our oceans than fish (which doesn’t taste anywhere near as good with chips) and it is a massive problem that people just aren’t aware of.

Sarah Roberts, who has campaigned about plastic pollution at education institutes up and down the UK, and is one of the everyday heroes we’ll be featuring in our campaign, told us: “Plastic is one of the biggest threats to our planet today and you only have to take a walk to your local stream, river or beach to see evidence of this for yourself. With so much hype about environmental issues, it’s easy to become desensitised, but the truth of the matter is we are on the verge of an environmental catastrophe.

“Right now, there is enough plastic in the oceans to circumnavigate Earth more than 400 times. This indestructible material upsets every level of the food chain. If our oceans can’t function properly, they won’t be able to support fish stocks, absorb carbon to protect us against global warming or generally do any of the things that our lives are dependent on.”

Despite it being such a massive, mon-fucking-strosity of an issue, it’s still something that is relatively under the radar. So, by getting the Trash Isles officially recognised as a country by the UN, LADbible and the Plastic Oceans Foundation are going to make sure the problem can’t be ignored anymore and make as much noise as necessary until people start to listen.

So, wait, the Trash Isles meets the criteria of an actual country?

You better believe it. According to Article 1 of 1993 Montevideo Convention on rights and duties of States, a country must be able to:

  • Define a territory
  • Form a government
  • Have a permanent population (this is open to interpretation and you can help us by registering to be one of the Trash Isles’ citizens. Don’t worry, you don’t have to move there)
  • Be capable of interacting with other states

So, all that criteria will need to be met; the Trash Isles will also have its own flag and national anthem, too. And if you think any of this is ridiculous then please consider the idea that THERE’S AN AREA CUMULATIVELY THE SIZE OF FRANCE MADE UP ENTIRELY OF WASTE PLASTIC IN THE SEA.

Why would you do that?

There comes a time when people have to say, ‘do you know what? Enough is enough’ and take action. Now seems like the time.

This isn’t about scaremongering, this isn’t ifs and buts, this is happening. People are polluting the oceans at an alarming rate and it’s not good for us, animals or the planet. Experts believe that by 2050 there’s going to be more plastic in our oceans than fish (which doesn’t taste anywhere near as good with chips) and it is a massive problem that people just aren’t aware of.

Sarah Roberts, who has campaigned about plastic pollution at education institutes up and down the UK, and is one of the everyday heroes we’ll be featuring in our campaign, told us: “Plastic is one of the biggest threats to our planet today and you only have to take a walk to your local stream, river or beach to see evidence of this for yourself. With so much hype about environmental issues, it’s easy to become desensitised, but the truth of the matter is we are on the verge of an environmental catastrophe.

“Right now, there is enough plastic in the oceans to circumnavigate Earth more than 400 times. This indestructible material upsets every level of the food chain. If our oceans can’t function properly, they won’t be able to support fish stocks, absorb carbon to protect us against global warming or generally do any of the things that our lives are dependent on.”

Despite it being such a massive, mon-fucking-strosity of an issue, it’s still something that is relatively under the radar. So, by getting the Trash Isles officially recognised as a country by the UN, LADbible and the Plastic Oceans Foundation are going to make sure the problem can’t be ignored anymore and make as much noise as necessary until people start to listen.

Is this really such a big deal?

Yes. Plastic takes anywhere between 500-1,000 years to break down. So, that means that virtually every piece of plastic ever made still exists in some form and loads of it is polluting our waters and killing marine wildlife. And, despite the fact that the world is creating more and more plastic each year, only around five percent of this is effectively recycled.

Tim Nunn, an ex-surfer and photographer who’s dedicated to documenting plastic pollution around the world - not to mention another one of the everyday heroes we’re featuring - said: "The big problem with plastic is that, as it degrades, it just breaks into smaller and smaller pieces, so plastic can enter the food chain at all levels, from the smallest plankton right up to the biggest whales.

“The results are terrifying. Ninety percent of seabirds have eaten plastics, one in three turtles and we're now finding dead whales washing up in Norway and The North Sea with stomachs full of plastic bags. It's no longer an isolated problem. Wherever I go, from the most populated coastlines on Earth to the remotest Arctic beaches, we find plastic. If we don't all act now, then we face an ocean devoid of life in the near future."

If for some reason you don’t care about animals dying or filthy beaches, bear in mind that the impact on humans is scary, too. The chemicals in plastic can be absorbed by the body. One study carried out in the US found that 93 percent of Americans over the age of six tested positive for BPA (a chemical found in plastic) and, as yet, there’s no knowing what effect that could be having on us.

Dr Simon Boxall, principal teaching fellow within Ocean and Earth Science, National Oceanography Centre Southampton at the University of Southampton, told LADbible: “The million-dollar question has always been, ‘is plastic in the ocean just inconvenient and uncomfortable, or does it pose a threat?’ Ten years ago, we would have said, ‘I don’t think so’, but now the concern is that as those plastic particles are breaking down, they absorb pollutants and other contaminates, and then they’re eaten by fish and other animals and this plastic can make its way into the food chain.

“We still don’t know how much damage that is causing. There’s ongoing research looking into this. It’s found that certain type of shellfish in certain areas are showing a lot more contaminates. The thing is, if we sit and wait for 10 years while we figure out if these plastics are causing severe damage, it’s going to be too late to do anything about it.”

Is this really such a big deal?

Yes. Plastic takes anywhere between 500-1,000 years to break down. So, that means that virtually every piece of plastic ever made still exists in some form and loads of it is polluting our waters and killing marine wildlife. And, despite the fact that the world is creating more and more plastic each year, only around five percent of this is effectively recycled.

Tim Nunn, an ex-surfer and photographer who’s dedicated to documenting plastic pollution around the world - not to mention another one of the everyday heroes we’re featuring - said: "The big problem with plastic is that, as it degrades, it just breaks into smaller and smaller pieces, so plastic can enter the food chain at all levels, from the smallest plankton right up to the biggest whales.

“The results are terrifying. Ninety percent of seabirds have eaten plastics, one in three turtles and we're now finding dead whales washing up in Norway and The North Sea with stomachs full of plastic bags. It's no longer an isolated problem. Wherever I go, from the most populated coastlines on Earth to the remotest Arctic beaches, we find plastic. If we don't all act now, then we face an ocean devoid of life in the near future."

If for some reason you don’t care about animals dying or filthy beaches, bear in mind that the impact on humans is scary, too. The chemicals in plastic can be absorbed by the body. One study carried out in the US found that 93 percent of Americans over the age of six tested positive for BPA (a chemical found in plastic) and, as yet, there’s no knowing what effect that could be having on us.

Dr Simon Boxall, principal teaching fellow within Ocean and Earth Science, National Oceanography Centre Southampton at the University of Southampton, told LADbible: “The million-dollar question has always been, ‘is plastic in the ocean just inconvenient and uncomfortable, or does it pose a threat?’ Ten years ago, we would have said, ‘I don’t think so’, but now the concern is that as those plastic particles are breaking down, they absorb pollutants and other contaminates, and then they’re eaten by fish and other animals and this plastic can make its way into the food chain.

“We still don’t know how much damage that is causing. There’s ongoing research looking into this. It’s found that certain type of shellfish in certain areas are showing a lot more contaminates. The thing is, if we sit and wait for 10 years while we figure out if these plastics are causing severe damage, it’s going to be too late to do anything about it.”

This all sounds kind of scary, is there anything I can do to help?

I’m glad you asked that. Yes, there is. There’s a lot. You can start by signing up to be a citizen, to help pressure the United Nations into approving our application and recognising the Trash Isles as an official country.

You can also get involved with this campaign by sharing it with your mates and start recycling - if you don’t already. Thanks.

In fact, while we’re at it, we can probably all cut down on the amount of plastic we’re using. There are loads of simple things you can do, from using a refillable bottle for water to bringing your own carrier bags when you go shopping.

Come on, fellow Trash Isles countrymen. Let’s put down the plastic, get off our arses and pull together to ensure the world’s first country made of Trash, is its last.

This all sounds kind of scary, is there anything I can do to help?

I’m glad you asked that. Yes, there is. There’s a lot. You can start by signing up to be a citizen, to help pressure the United Nations into approving our application and recognising the Trash Isles as an official country.

You can also get involved with this campaign by sharing it with your mates and start recycling - if you don’t already. Thanks.

In fact, while we’re at it, we can probably all cut down on the amount of plastic we’re using. There are loads of simple things you can do, from using a refillable bottle for water to bringing your own carrier bags when you go shopping.

Come on, fellow Trash Isles countrymen. Let’s put down the plastic, get off our arses and pull together to ensure the world’s first country made of Trash, is its last.