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Campaigning environmental charity to close after 10 years
An award-winning environmental charity and social enterprise will be closing before the end of September.
Despite the many successes of City to Sea, its end has been blamed on the fact that “progressive not-for-profit organisations cannot bear the financial and operational burden of de-risking the transition to reuse for government and business”.
The closure of organisations like City to Sea “signals that visionary solutions risk being lost due to systemic inertia and chronic underinvestment”.
is needed now More than ever
For the last decade, City to Sea has campaigned to stop plastic pollution at source while aiming to drive the momentum towards reuse and refill.
But “the scarcity and competitive nature of grant funding” and “the difficult economic times for corporate partners” have both also been blamed for the charity’s decision to close.
One major success of City to Sea has been their Refill app which has has been downloaded more than 750,000 times and has prevented an estimated 100m single-use plastic bottles from entering the waste stream annually.
The charity also successfully campaigned for the ban on plastic cotton buds and single-use plastic cutlery and plates, as well as polystyrene takeaway packaging in England.
City to Sea CEO, Jane Martin, said: “We’re incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved over the past decade.
“When we started, refill and reuse were nowhere to be seen in strategic roadmaps and business plans.
“Since then, we’ve witnessed real shifts with city-wide reuse initiatives across the UK and upcoming EPR and DRS legislations.’
“But despite growing public demand for reuse, the reality is that underfunding, lack of enabling regulation, and a system still optimised for single-use have made our mission as a non-profit increasingly unsustainable.
“The new reuse economy desperately needs bolder commitments from governments, brands and retailers.
“They need to be on the right side of history; it’s time to turn talk into action, with deeper investment, legally binding regulation and cross-sector collaboration.”
Natalie Fée first launched the Refill campaign in 2014 before founding City to Sea – photo: City to Sea
City to Sea founder Natalie Fée added: “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, from our high streets to our supermarkets, from our rivers to our seas.
“And none of it would have been possible without the support of our team, our board, our donors, our partners and our communities.
“Thank you for supporting ten years of purposeful action and environmental impact.”
Main photo: Jon Craig
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