Making Penzance plastic free > how the first Plastic Free Town is an inspiration for others

There are all sorts of projects to reduce plastic happening in communities across the UK. Here are a couple from the West Country:
St Laurence aids recycling drive | Wiltshire Times
New environmental project ‘A Greener Bude’ seeks town council backing and support | News | Cornish & Devon Post

With things moving here in Sidmouth too:
Futures Forum: Make Sidmouth plastic free > campaigns, actions and petition launched

Meanwhile, inspiration is happening in Cornwall:

Penzance helps inspire other towns to achieve plastic free status appearing on BBC’s The One Show

Since the accolade was announced Penzance has become an inspiration for towns and villages across the country

Hannah Maltwood  24 JAN 2018



Popular BBC prime-time show The One Show headed to Penzance recently to visit the plastic free warriors that helped the area gain the first Plastic Free Town status in the whole of the UK.

Since the accolade was announced Penzance has become an inspiration for towns and villages across the country, all eager to get involved with the eco-friendly scheme. One such place is the village of Aberporth, which hoped to become the first town in Wales to achieve Plastic Free status.

To help business owners in the village on their journey to ditching single use plastics, The One Show brought them to Penzance to speak to the people leading the way. Staff from Archie Browns Health Food Shop and Vegetarian Café, Fraser’s Fish and Chips, The Granary and The Tube coffee van spoke to The Ones Show reporter Lucy Siege about their plastic-free experiences so far and shared advice and tips with the Aberporth visitors.

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It was only a few months ago that St Agnes based charity Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) first launched the now coveted Plastic Free Town status as part of its Plastic Free Coastlines initiative. The status is only given to towns that meet a number of criteria laid out by the charity to help slash the amount of plastic waste output.

A total of 17 businesses in Penzance jumped on board with the scheme pulling together to swap plastics for more sustainable and eco-friendly items, and in December 2017 it was officially announced that the town had done enough to achieve its goal.

Since then SAS says that many other towns have shown an interest in doing the same. SAS CEO Hugo Tagholm, who also appeared on The One Show this evening, said that the charity had been “overwhelmed by the response” it has received to the scheme.

Penzance helps inspire other towns to achieve plastic free status appearing on BBC’s The One Show - Cornwall Live
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