Original subtitles

OK.

A little bit more.

A little bit more.

Stop!

OK.

Every single minute of every single day,

a truckload of plastics is finding its way into the world's oceans.

And once it's there, it sticks around for hundreds of years.

We're just adding to an ever-thicker plastic soup.

That's it, that's it.

Kilos of plastic are being found in the stomachs of whales.

Sea birds are starving, as their bellies fill up with it.

Large bits of plastic are gradually breaking down

into tiny micro-plastics...

..which enter marine creatures and pass on up the food chain.

These truckfuls...will not be adding to the problem.

But what I want to know is, how do we solve it?

When I first tackled the issue of waste four years ago...

Post your videos of stupid packaging that is driving you insane.

..I discovered the power of people everywhere joining

a nationwide conversation.

Suddenly, coffee cups are front-page news.

Now, to take on the huge problem of plastics,

we need to step up our efforts again.

We are making 1.8 million tonnes of plastic in the UK.

And to help in this colossal task, I'm joined by Anita Rani.

Microphone, check.

List of names, check.

Rush hour, check.

We will try every tactic we can...

Thirsty, thirsty.

Thank you. Oh, my God.

..challenging some of the biggest companies.

I want to speak to the sustainability department?

And taking the true scale of the problem...

It's like some dystopian nightmare.

..to those at the top.

The ball is really in your court now.

I understand.

We team up with a street in a bold experiment...

I am thinking about it - a lot.

..to find out how we can all play a part in our war on plastics.

Are you up for it? ALL: Yes!

If we're going to find solutions to the problems plastics

are causing, Anita and I need to work out where to start.

I think we've become so reliant on it, because it's handy and cheap

to produce, that it's absolutely everywhere.

It's obviously a really useful material and it's what we do

with it that becomes problematic.

As Hugh and I start on this mammoth project,

it makes sense to begin by looking at the plastic in my own home.

Da da da!

The cupboard under the sink.

Plastic scouring pads.

All my cleaning products.

Food bags. I don't know what that is.

Why did I agree to do this?

OK, so I have a lot of plastic.

The question is, what's good and what's bad?

We know carrier bags are bad but Method Man and Mary J Blige?

I mean, that's some of the best plastic in the world right there.

Plastic is light, strong and incredibly durable.

For things we use over and over again,

it's a wonder material.

Have you seen enough?

But we often use it just once, to hold food, or for things

like toiletries.

These are so handy, but they're so bad.

We are using a material that lasts for centuries, for just a few

days or weeks.

And then, we throw it away.

This is the problem right here.

But how big a problem is this?

How much of this single-use plastic do we have in our homes,

right now, across the whole country?

Hugh and I have an idea of how to find out.

We've chosen a normal British street of terraced houses in East Bristol.

Gather at the top of the street, an announcement

is about to be made.

There are families and couples, owners and renters,

newcomers and old-timers.

And it certainly feels a friendly street.

In fact, their annual street party is the perfect day

to launch our experiment.

Hugh is coming to knock on your doors.

I think we have a bit of a briefing at the top of the street

in a few minutes' time.

Are you up for that?

We want to try and get a snapshot of plastic use in the UK,

and your street has been chosen as the street to represent

Great Britain.

And what a great street you are!

We want you to bring out all the single-use plastic.

Here's some baskets for you all. Get going.

Together with a team of helpers, Hugh and I are going to count every

single item in the 22 houses that have agreed to take part.

The grand total will let us estimate how much single-use plastic

the whole country has at home.

Thank you for letting us gatecrash your street party.

That's fine. First of all.

The younger ones do most of the work.

I'm agoraphobic, so I don't leave the house. OK.

But are you all right with people coming to give you a hand?

And then bring it back?

We'll bring it all back when the job's done.

Wow, what an amazing house you've got.

Kay's lived on the street for over 40 years.

You might have a bit of a problem getting this stuff out.

All of these Coke bottles, we'd like to take.

Someone better bring them back, then.

Of course they will. I'm a Coke addict.

Coke bottles, kitchen.

We've asked everyone to divide their single-use plastics,

so we can count them in three sections.

First, items from the kitchen.

All the food, the carrots, cheese...

It's all in plastic, these days. Everything.

And the freezer. Full of it.

That's mostly glass. Oh, you missed that one. Plastic.

Right, we're doing well here, girls.

Then it's items from the bathroom.

Nick, is the bathroom free?

I say, come on up.

Yeah? Come on.

We might as well get to know each other.

Over here, all of this stuff, nice and wet.

It's been used. Of course.

At least we know you're clean. We're totally clean.

And finally, the stuff from anywhere else in the house.

You're wrecking my house.

I'm trying really hard not to.

You're wrecking my garden, now.

Over the next two hours, the residents carry out anything

and everything that's contained in single-use plastic.

Once you start digging, it kind of feels endless.

You've got wipes, you've got cleaning products.

Even organic carrots come in a plastic bag.

Crisps, nappies.

Oh! There's a football.

At least we can safely say that that is not single use.

And then, our team set to work calculating the grand total.

So the total number of kitchen items on your street...

..7,145.

Right, bathroom items.

5,241.

From your bathrooms!

And other items - DIY, pets, garden stuff,

3,388 single-use items have come out of your street.

So your total for this street -

15,774.

That's not cool. Not cool?

This is one example of one street, and you can see there are 20 streets

on this side.

What about all the other streets in the whole of the rest of the UK?

That's just off of that one street.

So there are 27 million households in Britain.

And if we use your figure, let's scale that up to see...

So that's...

19, five, two noughts. Yep. And another three noughts. Yep.

And another three noughts.

There you go.

19.5 billion bits of single-use plastic in houses

up and down the country today.

I want to see whether you go along this journey with me

a little bit further.

Can we continue to work with you as a street,

get to know how you live, get involved in your lives?

Are you up for showing the rest of the United Kingdom how to get rid

of single-use plastics from our lives?

Are you up for it? ALL: Yes!

Yes, indeed, yes.

I think that was a yes, Anita.

I think that might have been a resounding yes.

We've challenged this typical UK street to see how much

they can reduce their single-use plastic over the next four months,

before we count it again.

As you might expect, there's quite a range of opinions.

My bottom line is, there isn't a choice.

Kay lives with her husband, Paul, and their cat, Mork.

When you buy stuff, you've got to buy what's available.

It's all in plastic, in any case.

Anna lives with her partner, Nick, and is an actor and teacher.

It's my responsibility now to go away and look at the other

possibilities and take stock of everything and think,

"What can I do here to actually make a difference?"

Here we go.

Carlene has a two-year-old son, Jackson.

I'm just constantly busy.

To be super-organised and go shopping with a toddler,

actually, I'm just going to go to Aldi, because it's easy,

because I know where everything is, do you know what I mean?

Plastic pollution is predicted to increase three times by 2025.

But, if these residents can prove it's possible to significantly

reduce our single-use plastics, they offer real hope

for a different future.

Over the next four months, I'm going to be following

the residents to discover the easy fixes and what just feels too hard.

Hello, Kay.

Morning, how are you? Lovely, thank you.

The priority has to be tackling the part of the house

with the highest plastic tally - the kitchen.

What I normally do is put this up here.

Kay's online grocery shop has just been delivered.

And then we'll do a double act?

Yeah, let's do it. I'm going to pass it to you.

So I'm going to go like that and I'm going to put those...

I'm going to put one forward, because of the date.

And, straight away, I spot a simple target.

This is what we're talking about.

Each individually wrapped, single use, and then even that's in plastic.

I buy it because it's convenient, it's just in measures I want to eat.

And you use what you want, you don't waste any.

You're not chucking anything out at all.

But if we were to say, "Let's try and get rid of single-use plastic,"

maybe the cheese is the first thing to go, maybe we start saying,

"Buy a block, don't buy a big block."

I'm going to say no.

There ain't no ifs or buts, I want my cheese like that.

Because that's how I enjoy my cheese.

Finished, no waste. But there is plastic waste.

There's no food waste, but there's plastic waste.

Someone's got to convince me that to go without my cheese

is sufficient enough to go without plastic,

I've got to go without that cheese, it's going to be a hard argument.

I think Kay represents lots of people.

I'm not shocked by what she's got in her fridge.

She likes to buy cheese and every argument that she's got makes sense.

But Kay's going to be a challenge.

I'm cutting some chicken up for the cat.

You carry on, Kay.

I'm doing some cheese research here.

8.12 a kilo.

Look, you can buy...

They've got mature cheddar.

It's cheaper than your mini six-pack.

And you can buy as much as you want.

Yeah, but, having said that, if I cut a piece off the block,

it can go off.

It won't go off, it doesn't go off.

Just buy 100g.

That's 81p you've spent.

Just buy 100g, you'll eat it in a week.

That's it, a piece a day.

20g a day, that's five days.

You like to eat one a day.

That's five days, done.

Yeah, OK.

Your argument is good.

I know it's good.

I'll give you ten out of ten for that one.

In the UK, we are using 2.2 million tonnes of plastic

packaging every year.

While Anita and the street focus on what they're putting

in the fridge, I want to explore the plastic we grab to keep us

going when we're on the go.

There's one plastic-packed product we love so much,

that last year in the UK, we bought nearly 8 billion of them.

Why are we so obsessed with bottled water?

What do we think is in it?

What do we think it's doing for us?

Why are we prepared to pay so much money for it?

This is what I want to get to the bottom of.

And in order to do that, I've hatched a little plan.

I think it's time to give good old tap water

the bottled water makeover.

I'm planning a slick marketing launch in Central London.

But to pull that off, I reckon it's not just the water

that'll need an image reboot.

I'm thinking probably the right persona for selling this lovely

new bottled water is a sort of hipster-y thing.

I mean, obviously, I'm going to need a beard.

I'm putting myself in the hands of make-up artist Ella Jones.

OK. Well, we've got a beard here.

I'll put some paint through it and try and match it

up to your own hair a bit more.

When you say paint, you mean grey?

You're going to salt-and-pepper the beard?

Just a few flecks of different colours,

I think, to break it up a bit.

How about a neck tattoo?

Oh, a neck tattoo, do you think?

That's a bit scary.

I think it would be quite cool for your hipster...

Is it hipster? Is it hipster to have a neck tattoo?

I would say it's hipster.

Who wants to try the coolest new water in London?

Those in the know, drink Tapineau.

Come and try some water.

Have a taste.

It's good and cold.

Do you buy bottled water? Yes.

Do you? Yes.

How often? Every day. Every day.

Three out of five of you have bottled water.

I'd really love you to try MY water.

This will be available everywhere in England.

It's good. Am I on to something?

Gorgeous water. Is it? Yes.

Thirsty, thirsty?

What I like is smart water, because it's ionised,

you know, electrolysed.

Is that good for your health?

Yeah, that's what I'm told.

Where do you think it comes from? Can you tell by the taste?

From the mountain?

The clue's in the name. The water is in fact from the tap.

Really?

Oh, it's tap water? Tap.

Oh, yeah, fantastic.

Oh, seriously?

But you must process it, you're not just...

Tapping the tap water.

No, I am. No, I am. Really?

That's exactly what I'm doing.

I'm giving it away, so that people understand just how good

tap water is. Oh, my gosh.

Thank you. Do you like it? Yes.

We're in the know, we drink Tapineau!

Tapineau might have passed the taste test, but it also shows how much

we believe the bottled water marketing hype.

Live young!

Pure life.

"I'm 100% natural," printed on the plastic.

I'm at the University of the West of England with

Professor of Health and Environment, Darren Reynolds.

He's been running tests on the UK's top-six leading brands to see

if they offer any health benefits over what comes out of our taps.

What are the key minerals in mineral water that people reckon

are good for them?

OK, so we test for a whole range of minerals,

but the two I think people will be most familiar with

are calcium and magnesium.

And we need both those things. We need both of those things.

They're in our foods and in the water we drink.

Give me some scores, Darren.

Give me some mineral levels for these waters.

OK, if we look at Highland Spring,

we get about 35mg per litre of calcium.

Buxton, about 58 or so.

Volvic here, between 12 or 15.

Evian, 80 or so.

Smartwater, it's about 60.

And then we've got Nestle Pure Life, about 28.

So you can see we've got lots and lots of variation

in the mineral content of all of those waters.

They've all got calcium in.

Where does the tap water come in?

Well, the tap water, if we draw the line here,

we're looking at about 75 or so milligrams per litre

of calcium present in tap water.

It's a similar picture for magnesium.

Mineral levels in tap water do vary around the country,

but, generally, they are in a similar range

to those in bottled water.

Would you say categorically that anybody who buys bottled water,

thinking that it's better for their health than tap water,

is wrong?

Yes.

There's no evidence anywhere in the world of science

that any of these waters do anything for you physically

that tap water doesn't do?

No, there is no evidence whatsoever.

That water you get from your tap is perfectly safe.

And you don't get a load of plastic with it, either.

How much more expensive is bottled water?

I think if you took a very conservative estimate,

it would be about 500 times more expensive.

So if I were to take you for a pint, that would be the equivalent

of spending £2,000 to £2,500 for a pint.

And who would be mad enough to do that? Not me.

I think it would be your round, I think!

I certainly feel like I've seen and heard enough to be convinced

that bottled water doesn't taste any better than tap water,

it isn't any better for you than tap water.

But there is another reason, I think, why so many of us

keep on buying it.

Because it's so convenient.

And it's that convenience I'll need to tackle next.

It's a week after the big plastic count on the street in East Bristol.

The realities of the challenge of reducing their plastic

are dawning on the residents, especially in one key area.

Single-use plastic.

I've been getting very frustrated.

All three meals of my day involved buying something wrapped in plastic.

Lots of plastic.

In a shell, in a packet.

Some people on the street are trying out alternatives,

where they can find them.

Just come out of the deli, which does have a reasonable selection.

However, the prices are just not going to work.

But it's not only Carlene in the organic deli who have seen

the hike in price.

Plastic-free, £1.60 for four.

Whereas the ones in plastic, you could get six for 78p.

Along with Saskie, several others mention the challenge of buying

loose products in the supermarket on a budget.

I want to dig a bit deeper, so I've asked Carlene

if she can help me out with a bit of research.

She's taking reusable packaging, Tupperware and old plastic bags

to a large supermarket.

Morning.

Are you ready for your shopping trip?

Bigger stores have a wider selection of loose fruit and veg and now often

let you fill your own reusable containers at the counters.

Along with her friend Sara, Carlene's buying the ingredients

for a spaghetti bolognese without single-use plastic.

Remember, it's no bags.

That's the natural reaction, isn't it?

While I'm buying the packaged versions of the same ingredients.

I can't wait to compare our spag bol hauls back at Carlene's.

Let's see how much we paid. OK.

Tomatoes. All right, brilliant.

So, you reused a bag.

How satisfying is it, reusing it? It was good, it was.

You'll get another go out of that, as well.

Go on, how much did you spend?

£1.66.

Oh, God. I spent 69p.

OK, carrots.

53p.

Again, I've beaten you. 43p.

Have a look at cheese.

When Carlene asked for cheddar from the deli counter

without packaging, she was told it had already been cut

and wrapped and, again, it was more expensive than mine.

It doesn't make sense, does it? It doesn't, no.

Why don't you tell me what yours is and I'll tell you

what my shopping came to. OK.

£13.03.

Oh, God. Mine was £8.77.

That's a big difference, isn't it?

And this is just one meal.

Imagine what that's like for a weekly shop,

if you've got two or three kids.

That's a big difference.

I'm amazed by this huge price difference.

But perhaps the ingredients for spag bol are a freak result.

So, we've taken the research into the two largest supermarket chains,

Tesco's and Sainsbury's, one step further.

The government have a basket of products that we all buy

that they use to measure inflation.

So what we did, compared the prices of the things you can buy loose

to their direct comparison packaged.

So, tomatoes, for instance, we bought packaged tomatoes

and then we bought the cheapest loose tomatoes available.

So Tesco's, our shop came to £59.91.

The same products packaged came to £42.08.

Think about that.

It is nearly 42% more expensive to buy them loose.

It doesn't make sense, does it?

So then we moved on to Sainsbury's.

Almost 19% difference.

It's crazy.

I think the only way to understand this is to talk to the supermarkets.

Dear Tesco...

Dear Sainsbury's...

I am very interested to learn about how the supermarket

is addressing the issue of single-use plastic packaging.

Some plastic food packaging does serve a purpose beyond convenience.

For example, helping preserve foods through long

supermarket supply chains.

And that seems reasonable, if the plastic gets recycled.

But how well is our recycling system working?

If we're going to find the right solutions to the plastic problem,

that's something I need to find out.

Almost half of us admit to arguing at home about which plastics

can be recycled.

So how confident are we about what's meant to go in the recycling bin

and what should be consigned to the black bin?

Hi, there.

A little quiz for you today.

Everything I'm going to give you is plastic,

but you've got to decide whether it is recyclable or not.

Oh, no.

Here's your starter for ten.

What about this?

Plastic.

Yeah, I'd recycle that.

Definitely.

Plastic bottles are collected for recycling everywhere.

Time to up the ante with round two.

What about that one?

Flash.

I'd go general. No, plastic. Really?

OK, this one is a bugger.

Take the top off, because that's too many mixed things.

Actually, trigger bottles for household cleaners

can be recycled after a quick rinse, and with the trigger on.

It's got that sort of high-pitched crinkle.

I wouldn't recycle that, though.

I haven't got a clue.

Got to make a decision.

Well, OK, if it comes down to it, it's plastic, it's going in.

Unlucky.

Though the crinkle factor is relevant.

Plastic bags that don't stretch, and sound crinkly, are made

of laminated polypropylene, which is not recyclable.

Oh, I don't know. Does it say on the packaging?

Do you ever look? No.

Lid foil on tub, check locally. Probably Birmingham...

Doesn't give me enough information, so...

I don't know now, you're putting me under pressure.

Go on, put it in. It's probably wrong.

Even your quizmaster is out of clear answers.

77% of councils, including here in Birmingham,

do encourage us to recycle pots, tubs and trays.

But others don't want them.

A lot of it depends where you live.

It's the same with other types of plastic.

You can recycle...

Because some councils will take it.

Most of them won't.

There's not necessarily a right and wrong answer.

I'm inclined to put it in there.

I'm inclined to put it in general waste.

I think the first thing I should do is take advice,

because I don't know.

When you consider that there are over 400 councils in the UK and,

between them, they have 39 different sets of rules for recycling,

then maybe it's not surprising that we're all a bit confused.

And even if we do manage to get the right plastic into the right bins,

what actually happens to our recycling after it's collected

by our councils?

I've been digging deep into various websites that keep a track

of what we're doing with our waste and with our plastics

and our recycling.

And it's instantly obvious that we are not dealing

with our plastics at home.

That 665,000 tonnes of our plastics are being exported every year.

Most used to go to China.

But, from 2018, the Chinese banned imports, due to mounting

environmental concerns.

And so we've found other places to send it.

At the moment, the UK is exporting plastics to over a dozen countries.

But the biggest number by far, importing 129,000 tonnes

of our plastics, is Malaysia.

So if I want to find out what's really happening to our recycling,

I'm going to have to go a long way from home.

I'm heading for a small town called Jenjarom,

close to Malaysia's main seaport.

Hello.

One of you is CK? Yes.

Hello, hi.

I'm, Hugh. Shall I jump in with you?

Sure. Let's go. Let's go.

Town resident CK Lee is one of the founding members of a local

environmental action group.

They formed in July last year, after realising that an influx

of imported plastics had led to a massive increase

in plastic processing businesses.

Not all of them are legal and CK has offered to sneak me into one

of the 33 local sites that have been discovered

operating without licences.

This is used as the factory's dump site, we believe.

Look at this, it's awful.

It is awful.

After CK's group repeatedly reported this site

to the authorities, it was finally shut down

a few weeks ago.

It's clear it was used for some sort of processing.

We believe that the factory picked what they wanted to be processed,

and what they do not want, they just dump it here.

And what they do not want is a lot.

Yes, it is a lot, and it's a whole mess...

And totally stored in an illegal manner.

You know, without dykes, and the effluent just flows

into the adjoining lands.

There is a drain just here.

There is a little stream right between these two huge piles.

And look at all these tiny, tiny particles of plastic here.

Look at that.

I mean, that's the kind of stuff that could get into the watercourse.

It is getting into the watercourse, because this is the watercourse.

Yes, that's correct.

It goes to, you know, a common drain, and then it flows

to the river.

The group soon realised that most of the plastic in these sites

is being shipped in from abroad.

I see a Tesco bag, but I know you've got

Tesco over here.

That's one for you, Hugh.

Look.

Oh, dear, Paddington Bear on an M&S carrier bag.

Drinkaware.co.uk.

That's pounds sterling.

We're in the UK, aren't we?

We couldn't be anywhere else.

I could put it in this bag and take it back to show people in the UK.

I'm interested in these big bags.

I'm pretty sure that's Welsh.

I am a recycling bag.

Rhondda, that's Wales.

Yeah, Hugh, we don't like this stuff.

UK, being a leader in humanity, in human decency,

environment protection, please keep up with the good work,

but please don't dump what you do not want

at our back yard.

You are rich, you have the resources.

We are a developing nation.

Stop the exporting of your plastic waste to our country.

I completely hear you.

Why should our waste end up here for you guys to deal with?

Yes.

Let's go on. We've got to go.

Somebody is coming.

Our lookout called to say they think someone is onto us.

Let's go now.

Yeah, we're coming, CK, we're coming.

Since the authorities began closing illegal facilities in this town,

there have been increasing reports of large piles

of foreign plastics elsewhere.

On a tip-off, I'm heading 250km north,

to an industrial area near the city of Ipoh.

We have been cross-referencing some of our research with the Greenpeace

office here in Malaysia.

And they have just pinged me some coordinates.

Wow, look at that!

What a mess!

That's insane.

Jesus, I've never seen anything like that.

There doesn't seem to be anyone here.

At least for the moment.

See if we can get through here.

It's like some dystopian nightmare.

It looks like another planet.

It's like a plastic planet.

Left exposed to sun and rain, these mountains of broken bales

and mixed plastics are clearly never going to be recycled.

And it's only moments before I start finding things

that are all-too familiar.

Sainsbury's, Sainsbury's, Sainsbury's.

Sainsbury's, Sainsbury's, Sainsbury's.

And Sainsbury's.

Guys, you really shouldn't make your bags bright orange.

You're making it too easy for me.

Braintree District Council.

Essex's finest.

And it's not just Essex.

We've got Milton Keynes here.

We don't want unrecyclable rubbish.

I mean, the whole thing's just nuts, isn't it?

Something really sticks out, there is Utterly Butterly.

It's the other side of this horrendous trench.

That's pretty familiar.

Celebrations.

Milky Way.

M&S. Some cleaning product from Aldi.

I've got Sainsbury's, I've got M&S, I've got Asda,

I've got Aldi.

This bale of plastics may not be related to the council bags

I've found, but it is mainly made up of the pots,

tubs and trays that most UK councils tell us they ARE recycling.

Look at the size of this site.

And what sort of chain is it in?

What's the destiny of this bale?

When we put this in our recycling, back in the UK,

we think we're doing the right thing.

I do my recycling and I feel good about it.

At least, I used to.

What do you think?

I don't feel so good now.

I feel embarrassed, I feel ashamed.

I feel angry, I feel I've been lied to.

And I really want to know who is responsible

for this horrendous mess?

Is it our local councils?

Is it our government?

Is it our supermarkets?

Is it the manufacturers of these goods?

They're all in it together.

We're all part of this problem, and now we have to stop.

Take a long hard look at this stuff, take a long hard look at this.

And work out the right way to do things and stop sending our

plastic garbage thousands of miles over the sea.

I'll take all this up with government and big business

back in the UK.

But aside from vast piles like this, there's a whole different problem

foreign plastics are adding to.

Greenpeace Malaysia's Heng Kiah Chun

tells me about another grave concern.

This is plastic going up in smoke here.

You can see all the plastic.

That's horrendous.

And this is just... The smoke looks really toxic.

It's just one part, and I can see we have many parts.

There are many open burnings.

This is normal, just to see this plastic open burning? Yeah.

We also received some complaints by the local community

that they also suffer from...

Respiratory problems?

Yes.

A lot of families in this small town are convinced that their health

is being affected by the smoke from this open burning.

I've come to meet one of them.

Hello, I'm Hugh.

How are you? Fine.

Can I come in?

Goodness me, hello, everybody.

Hello. ALL: Hello.

Hi, how are you all?

What a gathering!

Who would like to speak a little bit about the experience

you've been having here?

SHE SPEAKS IN HER OWN LANGUAGE

How is this affecting your family, how is it for you?

Are you feeling well today? No.

No? Why not, what happens?

Because my nose is bleeding, my eyes are itchy.

The air is smelly.

Oh, my God.

That's you.

How did you feel when you had this?

Sad. Sad?

SHE SNEEZES

When was this?

This morning. This morning?

How many times has this happened in the last couple of years?

Every time.

I'm sorry.

That was very intense and compelling.

And the extra dimension, the substance that you think

is harming your child, is being sent across thousands

of miles by other countries, who don't even know what's happening

to it when it gets here.

It just makes it so much worse.

Where single-use packaging really is necessary,

recycling it is still the best option.

But we can help ease the pressure on the struggling system by reducing

the amount of plastic we're pumping into it.

And on the street in Bristol, Anna's on a reduction mission.

Have you signed up yet?

I have. Oh, you have?

Have you had a chance to look at the website?

No, I haven't.

She's found that the street can have their milk delivered

the old way, in reusable glass bottles.

To find out how successful she's been, I'm joining the local

milkman, Mark Green.

This is a sort of secret fantasy of mine.

I've always wanted to deliver milk. Yeah.

We buy 5.5 billion litres of milk a year and 80% of it

comes in single-use plastic.

But at 81p a pint for Mark, getting it delivered in glass does

cost significantly more than picking it up in the supermarket.

A month ago, how many bottles of milk did you deliver

to this street?

I had one call in this street, that was it. And now?

And now I've got 16, 17 here now, so it's just

gone crazy, really.

Almost half the street have decided that ditching this daily dose

of plastic is worth paying the extra per pint.

And for one house, the delivery isn't for milk at all.

No milk today, but just cheese.

Just cheese for Kay.

Come on in.

How are you? Lovely to see you, Kay.

It's a small victory, but it's a big moment.

And it's less hassle than the packets, really,

if the truth be told.

I do fiddle about, but once...

Successes on the street, combined with the problems

I've seen our plastics causing in Malaysia,

are spurring me on to find ways of breaking our bottled water habit.

Sales were up by 7% last year, and I suspect that a large part

of this is driven by convenience.

So it's great to see the refill scheme on our high street gaining

momentum, urging cafes, restaurants and shops to offer

free water refills for all.

But there's one massive sector

that's failing to rise to the moment.

Just out on the road today.

I was very thirsty.

It's a bit of a shame that the only water you can really buy

is in a plastic bottle.

It's just plastic bottles.

Plastic bottles. Plastic bottle.

We are clearly finding it hard to avoid plastic bottles

when we're thirsty on the road, which explains why we are spending

an estimated £60 million a year on bottled water in petrol stations.

So how about the plastic-free alternative of filling

a reusable bottle?

Time to pose as a parched traveller.

Hi, is it possible to get a water bottle refill here?

Well, that was interesting.

He said, "No, I'm afraid not, we can't do that."

I said, "Why not? Is there not a tap?"

He said, "Not really."

And then his colleague next to him said,

"You could fill it up in our staff kitchen."

No official policy of refill.

One of them didn't want to do it, the other one said,

"Come on, we can help the guy out," and we got there in the end.

Shell Select.

Still no signage.

Any chance of a refill for my water bottle?

Thank you very much. Cheers!

But, a tap in the little kitchen area and the guy was very happy

to fill up for me.

I did ask, how often does he actually fill up somebody's water bottle.

He said, "Maybe once or twice a week."

And then I asked him how many bottles of water he sold every day.

50 or 60.

By being polite and persistent, I am getting my bottle refilled.

But there's no signage, no refill points, and basically,

no encouragement at all.

OK, let's check out this Esso garage.

And sometimes, the only refill option is not very appealing.

And that's drinking water?

OK.

Interesting.

Just behind the litter bin...

It's not exactly what I'd call a drinking fountain.

Between them, our petrol stations

have 8,400 forecourts across the country.

They could do so much better than this.

"Hey, @Esso, @Shell, @BP, helpful staff have been

"filling up my water bottle, but none of you seem to have signs

"or proper refill stations.

"Who's up for making it easier for us to get free drinking water

"when we travel?"

Selling water in plastic bottles is incredibly profitable.

£2.4 billion worth of business in the UK last year.

So we have to decide.

Are we going to fuel that profit, or is it time to insist that fresh,

clean, drinking water is freely available wherever we go?

Over a third of all our plastic packaging comes from one source -

the supermarkets.

Tesco's and Sainsbury's still haven't agreed to meet me.

But it's not just me that's getting frustrated.

The residents on the street in Bristol are finding it impossible

to shop in a supermarket without bringing home

yet more plastic.

Maybe we do need to kind of do something where we become

more visible as a group that have come together.

What could we do, what do you think?

What about an action day?

Have a day of action, actually do something?

That's what they did in Germany.

In the big supermarkets, people started buying their veg,

undoing it there and then, leaving it in a pile.

Don't take it home.

You don't want to litter the supermarket, but the supermarket

have given you the litter.

So, we do it. Let's all...

Our next shop.

A typical street just a few weeks ago, this group of neighbours

are now planning their own activism by handing back the

plastic packaging they don't want.

Not in-store, not offshore.

No more plastic.

Can I do hearts?

And they are taking on the nation's biggest supermarket chain.

I'm just going into Tesco Express

to notify them of our visit on Saturday -

what we intend to do.

On the morning of their plastic rebellion, I come along to see

how it goes down.

Oh, amazing.

Good work, girls.

Just a couple of months ago, this was a street that pulled out

all their single-use plastic and we had a river of it.

And now look at them.

They're about to go and do their shopping

and leave their plastic at Tesco, to tell them, "We don't need it,

"we don't want it."

..Tesco? Sorry?

Is this anything to do with Tesco?

We...

Some people have been in touch with you, some people who live

locally are doing a shop and they're going to leave you with the plastic.

They got in touch with you to let you know.

OK, thank you very much, that's nice to know.

Thank you.

If someone's dropped a letter off to tell you

that this is happening, you'd hope that somebody

would pay attention.

Supermarkets produce over 810,000 tonnes

of plastic packaging every year.

If I whack all my stuff in here...

What's that you've got there?

Swede. It's a strange idea.

Some does help to preserve food, but, often, its main purpose

is to boost sales by carrying an attractive label or creating

a multipack, and this can encourage us to buy more than we may need,

and increase food waste.

Yeah, I've got the press office on the phone.

They want to talk to you. OK. Hello?

It's just a group of local residents.

I did drop a letter in.

We're just trying to raise some awareness.

All right, bye-bye.

Thank you. No problem.

90%, if not more, of the stuff that I bought was in plastic.

It's now all in here. So where's it going to go?

We're going to ask them what do they do?

It's their rubbish now. What do Tesco do with it?

Good luck. Yes. Thank you.

After the call from the press office, there is a sudden

change of tone.

I'm glad to take the plastic, because we recycle it.

Thank you.

In fact, I think I've got a cage out the back, so...

Oh, do you? What do you do with the...

It gets sent back to head office. Not head office,

that would be silly, it gets sent back to a distribution centre,

where it gets recycled.

And I'm delighted to recycle this for you.

Thank you.

The chap who works in there had a big smile on his face

and said, "Yeah, great, we'll take it."

But we know for a fact that a lot of that plastic,

you can't recycle.

The stuff that the grapes come in, that crinkly plastic.

Loads of it, you can't do anything with.

If only they'd agree to meet me,

I could discuss all of this with them.

The press office know what we're doing,

they've had an e-mail from me.

They know this has gone down today and they should definitely think,

"I know, we'll get someone to talk to Anita."

That's the most obvious thing to do, right?

They've got nothing to hide.

My call out to help us avoid bottled water when we're on the road has got

a positive response.

Both BP and Shell have replied to my tweet calling for water points

in petrol stations.

They say they think it's a good idea and that they'll explore it further.

I want to convert this positive engagement into delivery.

I want to see actual water refill stations

in the forecourts really soon.

So, I want to find a way to keep the pressure up.

I think a really good way to do that is to engage the people

who really use the roads and who need to slake their thirst

as they are pounding up and down the country every single day.

Kings Haulage run a fleet of trucks that travel the length and breadth

of the country.

Morning. Hello.

Are you Nick? Good morning, I am.

Business operations manager Nick Gingell says this is a cause

he'd like to support.

Gosh, and there is a case of bottled water right on the front

of your desk. We see a lot of that.

So, a lot of them will have these multipacks of bottles in their cab.

So, as an alternative approach

to keeping your drivers well-watered...

Looks good.

Are there some here I can have a word with?

Yes, there's a handful there now.

The business of the nation's truckers is worth over £8 billion

a year to the fuel companies.

So, I can't help thinking this group of road users could be hugely

influential in the refill revolution.

This is our motley crew.

But I will need to get them onside.

Good morning.

So...

..you're all on a break?

Yes.

I've got a few of these, pass them round.

This is potentially the beginning of something where you and truckers

all over the UK could start to make a noise saying,

"We come and buy your petrol and we stop and spend our money with you,

"one thing we wouldn't mind not paying for, from here on in,

"is the water."

You're looking at me like you think I'm slightly nuts.

I think this is an absolutely amazing idea.

It would be nice to have a dedicated station, yeah.

It does sound good.

What sort of social media, Facebook, what sort of conversations

are going on on truckers' Facebook pages?

LAUGHTER

I shouldn't really ask that question, should I?

Is there room in the world of trucker social media

for a conversation about water?

Sure, yeah. Of course there will be.

Great, my first group of crusading truckers.

Everybody look at me, saying, "sausages".

But for the petrol stations to feel the pressure,

we need to get the word out across the whole trucking community.

Where would be a good place to post those pictures?

The HGV drivers' advice group, which a lot of the lads subscribe to.

TruckNet UK. We've got 76,000 members.

Soon, posters and bottles are going out to trucking companies

all around the country.

And posts start flooding in of their experiences.

Like me, many drivers are getting refills,

but only now they've been encouraged to ask.

After all this activity, Shell have told me that they are now

trialling a clearly signed refill offering

in 30 of their petrol stations.

So, of course, we asked Shell if we could film the trial and get

some of the reactions of their customers.

But they said no.

In fact, they wouldn't even tell us which petrol stations

are running the trial.

So, I'm really sorry, but if they won't tell me,

then I can't tell you.

But there is one thing we can all do if we want this thing to take off,

and that's take our water bottles with us whenever we are on the road,

and go into petrol stations up and down the land

and ask for a refill.

After a couple of months of back-and-forths with Tesco

on e-mail, and after the street handing back their plastic

at their local store,

Britain's largest supermarket chain are now happy to meet me.

No doubt I will be confronted with the Tesco PR machine,

so I'm going to go armed

with a little something up my sleeve.

I am at Tesco HQ, to meet the person in charge of packaging

across all their 3,400 UK stores.

She's Group Quality Director Sarah Bradbury.

Hello, Sarah, nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you.

How are you doing? Very good, thank you.

I just wanted to know what your policy is

and what your thinking is around plastic packaging.

Our policy is to reduce packaging, to ensure we can re-use it,

and to recycle it, as well.

But we must look at it at the same time as food waste.

For us and for people on our street, it is about this plastic reduction

that's the important thing.

And to have the option to not buy in plastic. Yeah.

In fact, I was in one of your Tesco's today.

I want you to see what I bought.

Here we go, I've got...

..three peppers.

And these ones are that much.

Three peppers.

There we go.

Now, which ones would you choose to buy if you had the choice?

So, I know that these would be the loose products,

and these would be the products that are in the packaging.

So, what we have got loose at the moment is slightly bigger

varieties of product.

However, we are looking at this, because we absolutely recognise

we need to encourage customers to buy without packaging.

And at the moment, the price difference...

That's not a choice, is it? ..doesn't help.

And the packaging is this polypropylene,

crinkly packaging, that can't be recycled.

So, we're reviewing these products,

but we do think our absolute focus is to move towards

this recycling loop.

What about just getting rid of the plastic in the first place?

Just not having it in the system, by offering vegetables loose?

So, that's what we're doing in three stores.

We will be doing that within the next couple of months,

to ensure we take out the packaging, where we believe

it's the right thing to do.

So, does that mean if I go into, because I will... Yes!

I will be going in, but does that mean I will be able

to have the choice, a realistic choice to be able

to buy your loose fruit and veg at the same price,

if not cheaper, than the ones in plastic?

We will make sure we've got a competitive price.

What does competitive mean?

We have to look at it in totality.

You're absolutely right.

I need to make sure that we have a pepper

that is matching on price from the three that we've got now.

OK, at least Tesco's are doing something,

but, to be honest, a trial in a handful of stores,

I just don't think it's big enough.

And the more I look into this, the more I'm utterly convinced

that it's supermarkets that should be leading the change.

And I mean you, Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda, Morrisons.

All the supermarkets.

Do something bold.

How about giving us a real choice to be able to shop

without single-use plastic?

Because we know you can do it.

So, now...the ball's in your court.

Next time, Anita looks at the plastics we use

in the bathroom, and lets the street into a dirty secret.

Why are you doing this to us?!

While I discover plastics hidden in the very air we are breathing...

Just the City of London borough, two billion plastic fibres each day.

..and file my Malaysian discovery firmly in the government's in-tray.

Plastic waste...

Yes. ..that I found in Malaysia from the UK.

Yes, that's terrible.