War against plastic in world's oceans gets £61.4m boost!

Another £20m is to be spent to curb the amount of plastic been found in the world's oceans generated by manufacturing.

The fund was announced by Theresa May ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in London next week. The Prime Minister is due to ask all the 52 leaders at the meeting to sign up to the Commonwealth Clean Oceans Alliance set up to help developing Commonwealth countries research and improve waste management.

So far four Commonwealth countries, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Vanuatu and Ghana, have joined the UK in the alliance. The Government said £25m of the fund is available to help researchers investigate the issue of marine plastic from a scientific, economic and social perspective.

Another £20m has been earmarked to curb plastic and other environmental pollution generated by manufacturing in developing countries and prevent it seeping into oceans. That leaves £16.4m which will be spent on improving waste management at a national and city level to stop plastics entering the water. The Government pledged to match public donations to tackle plastic waste through the UK Aid Match up to a total of £5m .

The PM said: "This week we will look closely at how we can tackle the many threats to the health of the world's oceans, including the scourge of marine plastic pollution.

Britain, which is co-sharing the event with Vanuatu, will ask Commonwealth nations to follow the UK's lead in banning microbeads and slashing the number of single use plastic bags.