Plastic Waste
There are all sorts of ways to reduce and recycle your plastic usage, such as:
- Avoiding single-use plastics, such as wet wipes made from plastic
- Take a cloth bag with you if you go shopping
- Try to buy more bulk food and fewer packaged products
- Use a shop offering refills for household cleaning, laundry and personal care products,cooking oils and other liquids and dry foodstuffs
We would like to make you aware of the Co-op’s facilities for recycling soft plastics and crisp packets. Soft plastics include such things as this list from the Co-op’s website pages.
Thin plastic lids of all types; wrappers for kitchen towels, toilet roll, nappy bags, and cotton wool wrappers; pouches – microwave rice, pre-cooked mussels, petfood, etc; fruit & veg nets, bags and wrappers; plastic sauce sachets; ordinary carrier bags; bread bags; crisps, nuts, snacks bags; bags from cereal and porridge; dried goods – dried fruit, pasta, rice, sugar, pulses, etc; frozen foods and ice cubes; chocolate and sweets bags and wrappers; biscuit wrappers; cling film and pizza wrapping film. And lots more!
If you would like to know more about the Co-op’s soft plastic recycling practice click here.
So, please make as much use as you can of the Co-op’s soft plastic recycling facilities
In February 2020, the Group took part in a Mass Unwrap event at the Co-op.
48 shoppers took part over two hours.
The vast majority had their own reusable bags and for the most part were supportive of the campaign.
We collected a total of 92 items of which:
- 50 items (54%) was plastic film not recyclable
- 14 items were non recyclable (e.g. plastic nets, dirty cardboard inserts)
- 12 rigid plastic trays which can be recycled on the doorstep collection
- 16 plastic food bags which can be recycled at larger supermarkets
The recyclable packaging weighed 850 grams, the non recyclable items weighed 100 grams.
Plastic Tree Guards
A further environmental issue we are tackling is the scourge of redundant plastic tree guards. Plastic guards are usually used at planting time to protect saplings from grazing by, for example, rabbits and deer. Once the trees have become established the guards should be removed. Unfortunately often they aren’t. Many of the trees planted in the village, some over thirty years ago, still have the remains of the guards, broken and brittle, clinging to them.
Commencing in November 2020, Environment Group volunteers have now removed almost all the guards from Bracken Ghyll Golf Course and are planning to remove many more from other locations in the village including from more recently planted woodland on the Moorside.
Sadly much of the very dirty plastic from the old guards has had to be binned but the newer tubes can be re-used or if necessary re-cycled.
