​Why fish and chips could be a thing of the past

By Bob Fear

​Why fish and chips could be a thing of the past

How much do you love the good old British dish of fish and chips? It has to be our nation’s favourite meal. We’d opt for a delicious serving of seafood whenever we can.

But because we can’t justify chips every time, we’d also opt for a comforting fish pie, a luscious seafood linguine, a prawn-tastic paella.. We could go on. They all get our mouth watering.


But did you know that our planet’s sealife is in danger? Sustainable fishing methods aim to keep natural stocks healthy, but now the world’s oceans are threatened by plastic pollution. By 2040, the amount of plastic waste in the oceans could triple. 

By 2050, there could be more plastic in the ocean than fish. By continuing to buy single use plastic in particular, we are threatening all sea life across our planet.


Our habit of buying plastic bottles of water is one of the main causes of this oncoming catastrophe. In the UK, we use 13 billion plastic bottles each year, 7.7 billion of which are plastic water bottles. 

The average person uses 156 plastic bottles per year and 91% of plastic water bottles aren’t recycled. Around 1,500 plastic bottles are thrown away every second. 

These end up in landfill and in the sea. An estimated 8 million plastic bottles contaminate our oceans.


This is a planet-killing problem that we have created. But we can also fix it before it’s too late. We can save our sea life by not buying single-use plastic anymore. 

If we stop buying plastic bottles of water, we could help prevent an even bigger disaster than we are currently facing. 

If our demand for plastic bottles decreases, then maybe the manufacturers will stop making them in the first place.


Maybe we can still enjoy an occasional guilt-free fish dinner in the future? No-one wants to do away with a treat of fish and chips on a Friday.

But if we carry on buying and dumping single-use plastic water bottles, a delicious fish supper could be a thing of the past. Imagine if our fishermen could only catch plastic? Battered water bottle anyone?


Virgin Pure provides a cost-effective alternative to bottled water. We enable you to purify your own water supply. It’s like having mineral water on tap. 

By filling your reusable bottles with your own healthy, tasty Virgin Pure water, you’ll be able to stop buying single use plastic water bottles for good. 

As well as saving you a pretty penny over time, you’ll also be helping to save our sea life.


PADI AWARE Foundation is a publicly funded non-profit with three registered charities across the globe. Their mission is to drive local action for global ocean conservation. They advance their mission through citizen science, public policy and community grants. With PADI - the world's leading scuba diver training organization - they drive towards a collective vision to achieve balance between humanity and the ocean.

Donate to PADI Aware Foundation

Want to keep up to date with all things Purist?

Sign up to our newsletter to get the lastest from the Purist delivered to your inbox every month.