City to Sea is a UK non-profit organization that runs campaigns to reduce plastic pollution, including Refill to promote tap water refilling and reduce plastic bottle waste, and Switch the Stick to encourage retailers to switch from plastic to paper cotton buds. Switch the Stick gained over 155,000 supporters, got commitments from 9 UK retailers to switch, and will prevent 89 tons of plastic waste annually. The campaign was successful due to Natalie Fee's personal story as a spokesperson, visually engaging videos, building on previous work, collaboration with 38 Degrees, and focusing asks on retailers.

1. c
Natalie Fee
nat@citytosea.org.uk / @citytoseabrist / @nataliefee
connecting our actions to our oceans

2. Our primary campaigns are:
Refill: a national initiative to
promote free tap-water refills
and reduce waste from
single-use plastic bottles.
City to Sea is a UK-based campaigning
organisation delivering positive initiatives to
stem the flow of plastic pollution;
from city to sea.
Switch the Stick:
a national campaign
to call on retailers to
make cotton buds out
of paper instead of
plastic
City to Sea CIC is a registered
One Percent for the Planet non-
profit partner

5. • Most prevalent item of plastic, sewage-related
debris found on UK beaches
• Over 200 cotton bud sticks per km of coastline
Marine Conservation Society, Beachwatch Report 2015

6. @citytoseabrist
#switchthestick

8. Switch the Stick campaign website just three weeks in to our 6 month campaign

9. 70k views
700 shares
https://youtu.be/2-
XkyFuREz0
80k views
1.4k shares
170k reached
https://youtu.be/5RhK9lUuyqg

10. • From 6,000 to 155,000 signatures in one month
• Additional PR & Social Media Support
• Ability to hone in on retailers as they switched (or didn’t!)

12. • 155,000 supporters
• 9 UK retailers pledged
• 89 tonnes ‘flushable’ plastic stopped at source annually
• Grew City to Sea mailing list by 900%

16. •Front-person with a personal story
•Very visual campaign
•Previous work by Fidra’s Cotton Bud Project
•Filmmaking in-house & ‘just us’ decisions
•‘Simple’ switch for retailers to make
•Collaboration: 38 Degrees
#switchthestick

17. c
connecting our actions to our oceans
nat@citytosea.org.uk
w: citytosea.org.uk
twitter: @citytoseabrist / @nataliefee
insta: @citytoseabristol