As lockdown eases and shops, restaurants and cafes start to plan their re-opening, Plastic Free Chesterfield is calling on both the business sector and voluntary sector to pledge to #BuildBackBetter.
A recent Surfers Against Sewage survey found that 63% of respondents want to decrease their personal consumption of plastic packaging and 60% want to use refillable containers more.
The Main Offenders
- Plastic bottles – the UK uses a staggering 38.5 million single-use plastic bottles every day, of which fewer than 60% are currently recycled
- Coffee cups – only 1% of the 2.5 billion coffee cups are used in the UK each year are recycled
- Plastic straws and stirrers – once discarded a straw can last in the environment for 100s of years. . Plastic straws are in the top 10 items polluting the ocean and harming marine life
- Plastic bags – these fragment in 100-300 years depending on thickness and size, but will remain at large in the environment indefinitely. They can kill marine wildlife by unintentional digestion or inhalation
- Plastic utensils – Food and drink-related plastic items now make up one in every five pieces of litter
- Avoidable plastic food packaging – UK Supermarkets distribute 112,000 pieces of plastic packaging per minute
- Condiment sachets – these can take 300 years to break down
- Balloons – One in three seabirds which die are found to have balloons in their stomachs
If you’re part of a Chesterfield business or voluntary sector group, Plastic Free Chesterfield would love to hear from you on how you can #BuildBackBetter.
- Businesses – you need three “swaps” away from single use plastic to become a Plastic Free Champion, where you’ll receive an award, certificate and free publicity. Check out the Business Toolkit for some ideas of what you can do.
- Voluntary sector groups and organisations – take the Plastic Free Pledge to become a Plastic Free Ally. Your group might not be able to meet physically right now, but you can start by making the pledge now.
