World Oceans Day 2025

The oceans are the largest ecosystems on our planet, serving as Earth’s crucial life support system. As we observe World Oceans Day 2025, with its inspiring theme “Wonder: Sustaining What Sustains Us,” it’s more critical than ever that we act to protect these vital bodies of water. This year, the global spotlight on ocean health will intensify with the UN Ocean Conference taking place in Nice, France, shortly after World Oceans Day. While our appreciation for the oceans grows, the challenges they face, particularly from plastic pollution, continue to escalate.

At Bywaters, we’re not just honouring World Oceans Day; we’re actively engaged in the ongoing fight against plastic pollution, driving sustainable waste solutions that protect our seas for future generations.

The Importance of Our Oceans

The diversity and productivity of the world’s oceans are of vital interest for humankind. Our security, our economy, and our very survival all require healthy oceans. Together, the world’s oceans:

• Generate between 50 and 80% of the oxygen we breathe
• Contain around 97% of the planet’s water
• Provide over a sixth of the animal protein we eat
• Consume more than 25% of carbon dioxide (CO2) on the planet, reducing climate change and playing a vital role in regulating our climate.

It is for these reasons that the oceans are often referred to as the “lungs of the planet.” Not only do they provide biodiversity and produce the air we breathe, but they also play a crucial role in reducing carbon emissions. It is pivotal that we act to raise awareness of ocean pollution and protect the seas for future generations, which is what World Oceans Day continues to champion.

An Ocean Plastic Pollution Crisis

One of Bywaters’ central initiatives currently is our fight against single-use plastics that travel down our waterways and into the ocean. The amount of plastic in the ocean is now reaching critical levels. The unfortunate truth is that millions of tonnes of plastic has entered our ocean and will continue to do so.

A 2025 Perspective

• Escalating Figures: As of 2025, an estimated 75 to 199 million tonnes of plastic waste is already present in our oceans. Annually, a further 8 to 14 million tonnes of plastic continues to enter the marine environment, equivalent to dumping a garbage truck of plastic into the ocean every minute.
• More Plastic Than Fish: The alarming prediction from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation that there could be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050 if current trends persist remains a stark and urgent warning.
• Microplastics & Nanoplastics: A significant percentage of this plastic drifts into large systems of circulating ocean currents, also known as gyres. Once trapped, the plastic breaks down into increasingly smaller fragments – microplastics and nanoplastics. These tiny particles are not only easily mistaken for food by marine life, leading to ingestion and internal damage, but they are also increasingly found in our own food chain, drinking water, and even human organs, raising significant health concerns.
• Ghost Gear: A particularly devastating form of pollution is ghost gear ; abandoned, lost, or discarded fishing equipment. This gear continues to “fish” indiscriminately, entrapping and killing marine animals long after it has been lost.

Devastating Impact: The impact on marine life is profound, leading to entanglement, injuries, starvation, and even newly identified conditions like “Plasticosis” in seabirds.

Bywaters’ Active Role: Driving Solutions for a Plastic-Free Future

Every year, World Oceans Day provides a unique opportunity to honour, and help to protect and conserve, our world’s shared oceans. As a leader in recycling and recovering plastics, Bywaters is always coming up with workable solutions to the plastic problem, particularly for businesses and organisations.

Our comprehensive approach to sustainable waste management helps divert plastics away from our oceans, while we simultaneously champion efforts to clean up the mess that has already been made and prevent future pollution.

Our Actions & Advanced Solutions Against Ocean Plastic:

Bywaters is passionately committed to tackling this global issue and spreading awareness to our client partners. Beyond traditional recycling, we actively engage with and advocate for cutting-edge approaches:

• Embracing New Technologies: We leverage and support innovations like advanced sorting technologies, such as our very own Nando AI, which uses Artificial Intelligence and robotics for more precise material identification and recovery. We also understand the potential of chemical recycling for hard-to-recycle plastics. Our aim is to maximise resource recovery and enable a more circular economy for plastics.
• Supporting Corporate Responsibility (ESG): We provide tailored waste management solutions and strategies for businesses, helping them navigate complex regulations and meet their ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) targets. Bywaters helps organisations accurately measure, reduce, and report on their plastic footprint, ensuring compliance and enhancing corporate reputation.
• Specific Services for Businesses: From Dry Mixed Recycling to bespoke waste audits designed to identify plastic hotspots in your operations, Bywaters offers practical, efficient, and compliant ways to manage plastic waste streams. Our expert team helps implement effective segregation and reduction strategies.
• Ongoing Awareness & Community Engagement: While our “Plasticus” plastic whale tour with Sky TV in 2018 was a powerful initiative to raise public awareness of the crisis, Bywaters’ commitment to education is ongoing. We continue to organise and participate in beach cleans, educate client partners on best practices, and work collaboratively towards a cleaner environment.

Get Involved & Make a Difference in 2025

The ocean belongs to no one and yet everyone. With the increasing global focus on plastic pollution, every action, big or small, contributes to the solution:

• Conduct a Waste Audit: Understand your current plastic waste generation. Bywaters offers expert waste audits to help you identify areas for reduction, reuse, and improved recycling.
• Optimise Your Recycling Program: Ensure your workplace has clear, accessible recycling systems, especially for plastics.
• Prioritise Reduction & Reuse: Always seek opportunities to reduce plastic consumption at the source and implement reusable alternatives.
• Partner with a Sustainable Waste Manager: Choose a waste management partner like Bywaters that can offer advanced recycling solutions, provide robust data for your ESG reporting, and demonstrate a clear commitment to environmental stewardship.
• Support businesses actively working to reduce plastic.
• Make conscious choices to reduce single-use plastics in your daily life.
• Participate in local beach or river clean-ups, or support organisations dedicated to ocean conservation.

If you want to learn more about World Oceans Day, donate to the cause of saving our seas, or organise your own events, then head here. Everyone can do their bit to help, and with everyone chipping in, we can build a more sustainable world.

The ocean belongs to no one and yet everyone. Let’s all do our part, and remember: if you can’t reuse it refuse it.