Australia’s ocean should be a place where marine wildlife and habitats thrive, not choke on plastic. Yet plastic pollution has become one of the most pervasive and escalating threats to our seas.
Plastic pollution knows no borders, once it enters our ocean, it threatens marine life, ecosystems and habitats. From entanglement in fishing gear and aquaculture nets to ingestion of plastic fragments and toxic chemicals, plastic harms and kills marine animals, including turtles, whales, dugongs and seabirds. Microplastics and ghost nets degrade seagrass meadows, coral reefs and mangroves, ecosystems vital for biodiversity, fisheries and carbon storage. Increasingly, toxins are moving through oceanic food chains, threatening both marine and human health.
In Australia, over 250 kg of plastic enters our environment every minute, a devastating rate that will increase without urgent and decisive intervention.
Made almost entirely from oil, plastic production is deeply tied to the fossil fuel industry and other vested corporate interests, perpetuating a cycle that drives both pollution and locks us into an escalating climate crisis. As climate change intensifies pressure on ocean ecosystems, we must significantly reduce the flow of plastic into the ocean by driving coordinated global, national and state action.
AMCS tackles this crisis by targeting plastic at its source. At the state and territory level, we push for stronger single-use plastic bans, annual litter audits, and coordinated policies to address microplastic pollution. Nationally, we advocate for enforceable packaging and product design standards that reduce single-use plastics and hold businesses financially accountable for the plastic they produce. Globally, we work to ensure Australia maintains high ambition in the negotiations for a Global Plastics Treaty, addressing the full lifecycle of plastics — from production to disposal — and supporting solutions that prevent pollution before it reaches the ocean.
Collectively, these efforts will drive measurable reductions in plastic entering Australia’s marine species and habitats, protect the cultural and economic values tied to a healthy ocean, and ensure thriving seas for generations to come.
If you are interested in funding this work, explore these special projects below:
All donations over $2 are 100% tax-deductible. The projects featured in the Funding Prospectus are priority campaign activities and needs for which we are urgently seeking funds – current at the time of posting or going to press. As time progresses, there may be some cases in which the project you have selected may already be fully funded. In that instance, we would be delighted to discuss where the need is greatest at the given time. All of our campaigns work in symbiotic support of our mission to protect our oceans. Please be assured your gift will go to work to be the voice for Australia’s oceans, working on the big issues that risk our ocean wildlife.
