Chesterfield residents encouraged to take a New Year’s Resolution to reduce plastic pollution
Single-use plastic campaign group, Plastic Free Chesterfield, is encouraging Chesterfield residents to take a Plastic Free New Year’s Resolution Pledge, helping to reduce plastic pollution by making at least one swap away from single-use plastics in 2021.
The issue has been high up the agenda recently, with Chesterfield Borough Council passing a motion earlier in December, taking the pledge themselves to remove single-use plastics from council operations, along with supporting Plastic Free Chesterfield and future plastic-free initiatives.
2020 proved to be a mixed year for the issues of plastic pollution, with single-use face masks and gloves littering our environment and waterways due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and later in the year the UK government officially banned plastic straws, stirrers and cotton buds.
Destination Chesterfield and a number of local businesses, initiatives and community groups have pledged to become ‘plastic free champions,’ aimed at cutting single-use plastics from their products and operations.
Plastic Free Chesterfield are now calling on residents to take action themselves, publishing ideas for swaps on their website as well as social media.
Greg Hewitt, Plastic Free Chesterfield Community Lead, said: “The New Year is a perfect time to start thinking about what more can be done to reduce the amount of plastic that ends up in landfill, or worse in our streams, rivers and oceans.”
“We want to make it as easy as possible for Chesterfield residents to take action, and are encouraging everyone to make at least one swap away from using single-use plastic. This could range from bringing your own reusable bags when going shopping, to reusing and refilling cleaning products and pantry goods from Plastic Free Champion and award-winning businesses such as Steph’s Sustainable Stuff.”
The group has published 21 Ideas for New Year’s Plastic-Free swaps. This can be found via the Plastic Free Chesterfield website:
https://plasticfreechesterfield.org.uk/2021-new-years-plastic-free-ideas
