Environmental charity announces closure

City to Sea campaigned to ban single-use plastics and held litter picks along the River Avon in Bristol

An environmental charity says it is closing after what it said were failures by governments and industries to act to end plastic pollution.

City to Sea, based in Bristol, has been campaigning for policy changes on single-use plastics for a decade.

Its efforts contributed to a UK ban of plastic cotton buds and single-use plastic cutlery and plates.

But chief executive Jane Martin, said "underfunding and lack of enabling regulation" had made its mission as a non-profit "increasingly unsustainable".

City to Sea was founded in 2015 by Bristol environmental campaigner Natalie Fee.

A year later, it launched its flagship app 'Refill' which lists more than 370,000 refill stations worldwide, in a bid to help people reduce plastic waste.

It was also behind the campaign to ban polystyrene takeaway packaging in England, which came into force in 2023.

"When we started out back in 2015, I couldn't have imagined the scale of the impact we'd have in the fight against single-use plastic," said Ms Fee.

Announcing its closure on their website, the organisation issued a call to governments and industries to "be on the right side of history".

It pointed to plastic treaty negotiations which took place in Geneva, in August, and were attended by delegates from 183 countries, but collapsed.

Some countries, including the UK, had been pushing for curbs to plastic production in the treaty, but other nations opposed it.

City to Sea's chief executive, Jane Martin, said: "A rebalancing of power is needed, amplifying voices of those most impacted by single-use plastic pollution rather than those profiting from it".

She added: "Small, agile charities like City to Sea cannot de-risk this transition for government and business alone."

Announcing its closure, a spokesperson said the organisation will be working with partners to secure a "long-term legacy" of its programmes and campaigns.