1 April 2018
Cllr Shane Collins (Frome Keyford) writes:
In the space of just four months the Green Party and Independents for Frome have caused single use plastics (SUPs) to be removed from the activities of Glastonbury Town Council, Mendip District Council, Frome Town Council and now Somerset County Council. I proposed a motion to this effect to Mendip District Council, which was passed in December, and a similar motion to Somerset County Council, proposed by Cllr John Clarke, was passed unanimously in February.
Whilst this has been a green issue for some time, the 'Attenborough effect' of the BBC TV series 'The Blue Planet' has pushed the issue to mainstream public view, allowing these green motions to pass Councils with the unanimous support of Conservatives and Lib Dems - a good example of politics working together for the common goal of a clean environment.
Plastics are convenient and cheap to buy, but they were and are unnecessary, and an increasing body of research is showing that the long term effects of plastics are far reaching, with broken down particles of plastics entering the marine and human food chain.
Also, plastics are made of oil and their manufacture creates greenhouse gases which drive climate change. To have a reasonable chance of staying below a 2°C temperature increase, we have a
precious carbon budget, and we should not be squandering it on 5 plastic bags which produce 1kg of
CO2!
The next step is greening our town cafes, shops and pubs. This is starting to happen in Frome, with our very green aware cafes starting to sell reusable coffee cups and water bottles, and a discount if you bring your own cup. We plan to have a roadshow through the Mendip towns showing off the alternatives and the ways we can wean ourselves off single use plastics.
Supermarkets are major users of SUPs - and they respond to profits and public pressure. We can all lobby the supermarkets, and the people of Frome will also be bringing back SUPs to Sainsbury's Frome supermarket on Saturday 7th April at 12 noon. This is an opportunity for you to collect all your SUPs and bring them back to Sainsbury's to ask them to cut out single use plastic packaging.
So if you drink take-away coffee, now is the time to buy a reusable cup, and if you buy supermarket food wrapped in plastic then let's bring it back to Sainsbury's on Saturday 7th April.
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