The fight against plastic usage is gaining a huge amount of traction. With campaigners now arguing that ocean plastic pollution is actually a violation of international law, many individuals and companies are paying close attention to their plastic consumption. Just today, the vice-president of the European Commission implied that the EU would consider a ban of single-use plastics in the next few months.

In particular, plastic bottles are seen as a huge problem for our oceans. Anyone who has spent time at a large boat show or on board a yacht will see the high volume of plastic bottles that are consumed. Noticing this issue, Jessica Evans, a chief stewardess and co-owner of a wine provisioning company Onshore Cellars, decided to take matters into her own hands. “My husband and I both worked on boats for many years and have seen the amount of plastic used on board,” she explains, in a recent conversation with SuperyachtNews. “As a wine provisioner, we constantly have clients adding on their soft drink and water deliveries with us. While we can not stop owners wanting bottled water on board, we wanted to try and promote less use of plastic. So, for every glass bottle ordered with us, all proceeds go towards a charity.” The organisation that Onshore Cellars have chosen to donate to is The Ocean Agency, who are working to improve the health of the world's oceans.

Changing attitudes toward the consumption of single-use plastics is a truly effective way to combat the issue across the yachting market and beyond. Evans co-founded Onshore Cellars with her husband with this in mind. “We’ve always been environmentally-conscious. When we started the company we wanted to be a bit different,” she says. The Onshore Cellars team also try to limit their use of paper, packaging and bottled water in their offices, “We wanted to change the mindset of how people ordered and consumed wine in the industry.”

From their experience working on yachts, Evans recalls how she did encounter owners who were aware of the negative side effects of plastic usage.  “We were on a very good boat that was very environmentally friendly, we had a glass crushing machine and a recycle depot.” However, she adds that this isn’t a common occurrence, “Sadly, a lot of boats don’t do that. I’ve worked on yachts where all the requests are for plastic bottled water, not only for the owners but for the crew.”

She admits that it is hard to enact change, but is confident that as more and more yacht companies follow suit, the industry can work together to combat the plastic pollution issue.  “Any small thing we can do to make a difference will help.”

All the proceeds from the Onshore Cellars initiative will go to The Ocean Agency, who are working with The Superyacht Group on the 'Ocean ChariTee campaign'. Click here to find out more.

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