PM to give Chinese leader Blue Planet DVDs and letter from Sir David Attenborough demanding action on plastics
The PM will hand over a private note from the environmentalist when she meets Chinese President Xi Jinping today
THERESA May will join forces with Sir David Attenborough to demand China does more to tackle throwaway plastics.
The PM will hand over a private note from the environmentalist when she meets Chinese President Xi Jinping tomorrow.
She will also gift a box set of the hit Blue Planet II series watched by an estimated 80 million Chinese. The acclaimed series has been credited with changing Government’s entire strategy to plastic waste by highlighting the threat the substance poses to life under the oceans.
China accounts for a quarter of total global plastic production and seven of the most plastic polluted rivers in the world can be found in the country.
The PM inspected a project aimed at tackling chronic plastic pollution on the banks of the Yangtze.
The waterway carries 1.5 million tonnes of plastic into the ocean every year. The project removes tiny particles of plastic from the water.
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In an interview with The Sun recently, the legendary broadcaster revealed how he was working with Environment Secretary Michael Gove to try to end China’s appalling plastic pollution.
Mr Attenborough said: “We discussed plastic. China will take no more from us.
“Improved recycling could work. I wish we could discover some way we could destroy plastics and not spend all this time sieving and sorting them into this kind and that kind or reusing them.
“I just want to destroy the damn thing.”