Since my earliest memories, I have loved the ocean and what it holds.
Like many people, I am saddened by images of wild creatures on beaches, which I have seen photographed strangled or entangled by plastic, and their lives ended by our casual use and discarding of plastic.
I know that so many people feel the same dislike of inadvertently harming the things that are the most precious and beautiful in the natural world.
I have always loved being in nature. My parents instilled in me a love of wild places and a respect for animals and the natural world. However, I hadn't really thought seriously about my use of plastic until a few years ago.
Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank, who were married in October, made their ceremony eco-friendly by banning bottled water, cocktail straws and providing biodegradable and compostable ponchos to protect guests from the rain
Plastics are everywhere — seemingly impossible to avoid in every supermarket and every coffee shop. Then I was introduced to the work of a number of initiatives making environmental changes — and I was inspired to start to make changes to my own life.
I learned that every bit of plastic I had ever used is still on the Earth, and will be here long after I am gone.
In fact, it will still be out there somewhere when our grandchildren's grandchildren are alive.
I had never thought about the issue in that way before and, when I did, I determined to try to do something about it, however small. My eyes were opened to this problem and since then I have read anything I can find about the problem of single-use plastics, and particularly its impact on our oceans. That's why I am incredibly proud to be an Ambassador for Project 0 — which campaigns to protect our oceans from plastic pollution and other threats.
Princess Eugenie attends a photocall on Carnaby street for the launch of 'Pass on Plastic', an pop up from Project 0 and Sky Ocean Rescue
My parents are also committed to this — my father's work with Pitch@Palace backs entrepreneurs, including one making reusable bottles. But there is a long way to go for everyone to get to a point where reusable is the norm rather than something which needs so many of us to change our ways. The statistics are stark and horrifying.
Across Europe, we throw away 46 billion plastic drinks bottles every year, 36 billion plastic drinking straws and 16 billion plastic-lined coffee cups. Single-use plastics are the main source of litter on our beaches.
The impact on marine life is appalling. Of dolphins that are found stranded on our beaches, more than two-thirds have plastic in their stomachs. A sperm whale found emaciated and dying in the Mediterranean was discovered to have ingested 26 plastic items, weighing more than eight kilos.
Then there is microplastic — a problem that we are discovering more about all the time. These are tiny pieces of plastic, which come from larger items that have been broken down over time, and tiny plastic fibres from synthetic fabrics. According to some estimates, there are now as many as 51
