The Sky News studio has been filled with rubbish today as Sky launches a campaign to raise awareness of the need to reduce plastic waste.
The Sky Ocean Rescue campaign will be lead with two days of coverage on Sky News and Sky-owned Italian news channel TG24.
It comes after a Sky News poll revealed that 84 per cent of people are concerned about the amount of plastic pollution in oceans.
The amount of plastic waste in the news studio is the equivalent to that generated by a UK household in four months.
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A spokesperson said the aim of the campaign is to “educate and inspire people to change their behaviour to help protect our oceans and dramatically reduce the amount of plastic waste produced every day that end up in them”.
They added: “Sky News reaches 107 million people per week and by bringing the issues to life through its platforms hopes to inspire millions of people to take action, discuss solutions and join the organisation in making a difference.
“This will be achieved by helping people to see how they can help reverse the damage being done to our oceans in a way that is relevant to their everyday lives and asking them to make simple behavioural changes.”
Plastic fills the Sky News studio as Sarah Jane Mee and Jonathan Samuels launch the Sky Ocean Rescue campaign
Sky has pledged to dramatically reduce single-use plastics across its sites, starting by removing all single-use plastic water bottles, plastic straws, cups and micro beads in cleaning products.
Jeremy Darroch, Sky chief executive, said: “At Sky we want to make a difference to issues that really matter, particularly for our customers. We have, I believe, a strong history in using our voice to make an impact when it comes to environmental issues.
“The health of our oceans is in a dire state and we ignore it at our peril, so we are asking all our customers around Europe to help us to bring ocean health to the fore.
“We will put the full weight of Sky behind the campaign and I firmly believe together we can make a meaningful difference.”
HRH The Prince of Wales, a long-standing environmental campaigner, added: “Sky’s ocean plastics campaign will hopefully create further awareness of this incredibly serious issue.”
In September 2015, Sky celebrated the end of its Sky Rainforest Rescue campaign which saw the broadcaster hold a six-year partnership with charity WWF (World Wildlife Fund).
It claims to have helped raise more than £9m, save one billion trees in the Amazon and raise awareness of deforestation among 7.3 million people as a result of the campaign.
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