Why Plastic Pollution is Personal | Natalie Fee | TEDxBristol

“When you go to the loo – just flush pee, paper and poo!”

How does one person tackle a global, and at times overwhelming problem? And why are we flushing plastic down the toilet? In this funny, playful and moving talk, award-winning environmental campaigner Natalie Fee reveals how you can disrupt big industry from your back room … and how you can change the world, one flush at a time.

Natalie is the founder of City to Sea (www.citytosea.org.uk), a non-profit organisation running campaigns to stop plastic pollution at source. By engaging communities, working with retailers and lobbying manufacturers her aim is to reverse the trend for disposable items in order to safeguard our seas for future generations.

Last year City to Sea’s #SwitchtheStick campaign successfully called on all UK retailers to make cotton bud stems out of paper — a move which will stop over 320 tonnes of single-use plastic being manufactured annually. Their Refill campaign (www.refill.org.uk) is the UK’s leading drinking water initiative.

This talk is from TEDxBristol 2017: Dare To Disrupt. In a world of constant change and uncertainty, these are the ‘positive disruptors’ ripping up the rule book to challenge received wisdom, demand better, and transform seemingly insurmountable problems into break-through possibilities and new beginnings.

From making a big splash on single-use plastics, to a global campaign to end unwanted hair-touching, or a revolutionary approach to combining robotics with human creativity, we hope you’ll enjoy and feel inspired by these talks.

Watch all our talks here https://tedxbristol.com/talks

Our talks were produced, filmed and edited by a brilliant team of talented volunteers and pro-bono partners:

Produced by:

Mel Rodrigues, Curator TEDxBristol
Daniel Edmund, Assistant Curator, TEDxBristol
Samuel Williams, Hodos Consultancy
Barney Grenfell, Hodos Consultancy

Filmed and edited by Floating Harbour Films:

Richard da Costa
Ben Scrase
Tom Young
Dan O’Connell
Gareth Croft

With camerawork and production support from:
Steve Webb
Giles Edwards
Bath Spa University