The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a heap of debris floating in the Pacific. Some say it's twice the size of Texas while others claim it's the size of the USA. It's made up of 80% plastics and weighs 3.5 million tons. The Algalita Marine Research Foundation in Long Island have been monitoring the Garbage Patch for ten years.

The "Patch" is particularly dangerous for birds and marine life according to environmental group Ocean Conservancy. Sea turtles mistake clear plastic bags for jellyfish. Birds swoop down and swallow indigestible shards of plastic. These animals die because the plastic eventually fills their stomachs. It doesn't pass and they literally starve to death.

The long term solution is to stop producing as much plastic products and change our consumption habits. 

We know that the pharmaceutical drugs we consume end up in the country's waterways and can seriously upset the natural balance of the ecosystem. 

Diclofenac, an anti-inflammatory drug adminsitered to humans and animals has had an impact on the vulture population across Asia.

In order to reduce our reliance upon Diclofenac and other anti-inflammatory drugs, a variety of natural alternatives for treating inflammation exist;

1. Willow Bark
2. Ginger Root
3. Turmeric
4. MSM
5. Bromelain

According to Dr Alex Ford of the University of Portsmouth, "Much of what humans consume you can detect in the water in some concentration. We're a nation of coffee drinkers and there is ahuge amount of caffeine found in waste water, for example. It's no surprise that what we get from the pharmacy will also be contaminating the country's waterways."

Examples of this include antidepressants affecting shrimps and diclofenac affecting vultures.

There are alternatives to most pharamceutical drugs which have less harmful.

Check here for an alternative to antidepressants and check here for an alternative to Diclofenac and other anti-inflammatory pharmaceutical drugs.

Each year the brewing industry loses many millions of pounds through the theft and misappropriation of kegs, casks and dispense gas cylinders. Keg watch is the organisation committed to reducing these losses.

Keg watch pays rewards for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the theft or unauthorised destruction of containers.

If you want advice on anything to do with kegs call Keg Watch on 0808 100 1945.