Businesses across Bath and North East Somerset are being urged to do their bit to help the area become plastic free.
Firms can make a pledge to make a difference by ditching single-use plastics, replacing them with sustainable alternatives.
Bath & North East Somerset Council (B&NES) is also asking organisations, schools, clubs and community groups to pledge to take action. The council wants to achieve ‘Plastic-Free Community’ status by 2020.
The first business to sign the pledge – which has been launched on the council website www.bathnes.gov.uk/plasticfree – is Boston Tea Party, the café group with two outlets in Bath.
Businesses that sign up to take part in Plastic Free BathNES are being asked to pledge to eliminate at least three single-use items over the next year.
Those signing up are also being urged to share their experiences and knowledge to help other firms in their efforts to reduce their reliance on single-use plastics.
B&NES cabinet member for development and neighbourhoods Cllr Bob Goodman said: “There is no quick fix to the problem of plastic pollution, but we can all take action to reduce our use of unnecessary single use plastics.
“We want local people and businesses within our community to make a commitment and join us in our challenge to increase the use of sustainable and reusable alternatives. The council has already signed up to the scheme, but it’s only by working together that we’ll be able to achieve Plastic Free Community status.”
He said community groups, clubs, towns or parish councils could do their bit by encouraging others within their communities to get involved by reducing unnecessary single-use plastic, recycling and by helping to remove harmful plastic and other litter from the environment through community litter picks.
- Individuals can also make a difference by for example:
- Carrying a refillable water bottle
- Carrying a reusable coffee cup and refusing single-use takeaway cups
- Refusing straws
- Carrying their own reusable shopping bag
- Recycling single use plastic bottles and containers
- Choosing products with less packaging or packaging made from recycled materials
Plastic Free BathNES is building on the well-laid foundations of projects staged by a number of local community groups.
Rachel Yates, plastic free communities project officer at Surfers Against Sewage, said: “We’re creating the Plastic Free Community network to free where we live from single use. Together we’re tackling avoidable, throwaway plastic, from our beaches, rivers and green spaces all the way back to the brands and businesses who create it.
“It’s not about removing all plastic from our lives. It’s about kicking our addiction to avoidable single-use plastic and changing the system that produces it.
“We live in a plastic world. It’s an extraordinarily useful, versatile, cheap material and it’s a growth industry, with one in every ten barrels of oil now used to create new plastic. But together, we can make sure we don’t choke our streets, parks and playgrounds with it.
“Because if it’s on our street today, then it’s in our rivers tomorrow, and our beaches and oceans forever. We can only do all of this together and we’re pleased the community in Bath and North East Somerset are joining the journey”
Refill Bath coordinator Vipul Patel added: “We’ve already signed up more than 50 refill stations in Bath and the surrounding area and aim to have many more signing up this year. We’re really excited by the council’s new campaign to make it easier for us all to avoid wasteful, disposable single-use plastics.”
Pictured, from left: Cllr Bob Goodman, Anna Knollys – Families for a Bright Future, Alastair Singleton – Keynsham Wombles and No Place for Litter, Fiona Edwards – Keynsham Plastic Re-Action, Allison Herbert – Bath BID, Jon Raby – BID ranger services manager Bath BID, Josh Wills Boston Tea Party
