Plastic Free Shaftesbury
We have joined the Plastic Free Communities network formed by Surfers Against Sewage, aiming to tackle single-use plastics in Shaftesbury.
You can read more about this here:
We have already gained support from Shaftesbury town council and we arranged for Marten Gregory, team leader for the recycling team at Dorset Council to give a presentation in the town in March 2020. (See this blog post for details https://www.planetshaftesbury.org/post/plastics-free-shaftesbury-waste-management-talk-13-3-20) . We are helping local businesses remove or reduce their disposable plastics, we will engage with schools and community groups, and when it’s safe to do so we’ll run some more events in town.
Several of our local businesses are already avoiding single use plastic. New businesses are being interviewed about their reduction in plastic so they can both come on board as plastic free champions and act as mentors to others who’d like to reduce their waste. Please get in touch if you think you’d like to join us, or if your business has already started their plastic-free journey!
Our ‘community leader’ for launching this campaign was Lucy Barfoot who owns the plastic free shop Coconut & Cotton in town. This year her shop and online business have become increasingly busy. See website here https://coconutandcotton.co.uk/
An increasing number of people are now seeking refills of cleaning products so that we can reduce our use of plastic. ‘Myrtle and Marigold’ is offering many cleaning products ‘on tap’ from a horse-box in Shaftesbury every Thursday and Saturday.
If you’d like to join in with our Plastic-Free Shaftesbury campaign you can get in touch by emailing us on plasticfreeshaftesbury@gmail.com
Shaftesbury has a TerraCycle scheme.
Alison Harding was already collecting selected items for recycling and has now extended the range, taking over from Laura Haskell. Thank you to Alison and to Laura! Alison lives at 17 Pound Lane, SP7 8RZ and asks that her property and joint driveway of neighbours is respected and all carrier bags taken home for future reuse. The bins are open 24/7. Alison maintains two facebook pages https://m.facebook.com/groups/624985834708968/?ref=group_browse and https://m.facebook.com/groups/1238160643017819/?ref=group_browse
TerraCycle cleans and processes waste that cannot normally be recycled through municipal collections, making pellets that are then used in benches, children's toys etc. Many different manufacturers have contracts with TerraCycle, enabling them to say their packaging is recyclable. Therefore the waste must be sorted according to the contracts TerraCycle has for specific brands, rather than according to the type of plastic. TerraCycle makes charitable donations for each Kg of acceptably sorted waste: Alison has agreed that donations for Shaftesbury's waste will go to the Dorset & Somerset Air Ambulance and to Kicks Count.
Here is a comprehensive list of the separate items Alison is collecting. She suggests we put the clean and dry pouches inside each other or a treat / biscuit bag to save space, but please avoid folding packets into triangles as that confuses TerraCycle's equipment. Except for Ferrero Rocher, each category here links through to the TerraCycle posters specifying items included (save this somewhere handy!).
Food & Drink: Bread bags ; Cheese packaging ; Kid’s food pouches ; Lavazza Eco caps ; Plastic ring carrier from cans
Sweet & Savoury Snacks: Ferrero Rocher all packaging (except paper cups) ; Crisp packets ; Confectionery ; Biscuits ; Savoury snacks, nuts
Pet Food: Pet food packaging (1) ; Pet food packaging (2)
Home Cleaning: Dishwasher tablets etc ; Air, home, laundry products
Personal Care: Soap pumps, caps & tubes from Baylis & Harding, Carex ; Dental care products ; Burts Bees personal care
Toys: Hasbro toys & games
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