UPY 2025

UPY  Save our Seas Foundation Marine Conservation - Commended
'Drowning in Plastic'
Kimber Greenwood

This image was part of an awareness project for the Florida Springs Council about the impacts of water bottling on Florida’s Springs. Over 300 bottles are produced every minute at water bottling plants such as the one just minutes from the Spring this image was shot at. Not only are these bottles ending up in landfills and introducing micro-plastics into our environment, the bottling of "Spring Water" is causing a loss of water from the Floridan Aquifer which is reducing water levels and water flow, allowing for deterioration of the Springs and rivers. The bottles used for this image were donated from a local conservation activist who pulled them off the production belt of a local bottling plant. The images created from this campaign are used in on-going social media and print advertising campaigns to encourage individuals to make a better choice to use reusable water bottles over plastic bottles.

Judge's comment: Such a nice and simply way to create awareness. A perfect example of what can be done "easily" and has a high impact on the viewers of this image. I loved it from the moment I saw it first.

Tobias Friedrich