The Plastic Free Champions Going for Gold

As part of the Plastic Free Communities campaign, our local Community Leads work with independent High Street businesses to help them become Plastic Free Champions. Often this is just the start of an amazing working relationship, as they go on to work together to drive plastic reduction locally.

Since the campaign started in 2017, we have created a free online dashboard to support businesses with their plastic free journeys. And now we’re making sure all of our oldest and most dedicated Champions have access to it.

Many businesses have been Champions with us from the start. By making sure they have access to all of SAS’s support online and from their community leads locally, they are increasing their impact by getting Silver & Gold Champion awards.

With single-use plastic bans now in place in England, Wales and Scotland, it’s more important than ever for businesses to take the next steps in their plastic free journey.

Archie Browns in Penzance have been Plastic Free Champions for many years. They were in fact the first place to ban carrier bags in the town, way before going plastic free was a thing. They are also a refill point for a host of things from milk and dry goods to cleaning products, health and beauty and more.

Now they have their online dashboard, they will be applying for their much deserved Gold award and encouraging other businesses to do the same. Jamila, from Plastic Free Penzance said:

Greenwashing is a big issue, used by many big brands in the UK. It can be hard to spot. Local independent businesses are less likely to get caught up in widespread greenwashing though. They are able to make their own choices locally, choosing to be innovative and lead the way.

A great example is Newlyn Fermentary, who are already a Gold Champion as part of Plastic Free Penzance. They offer a local deposit return scheme for the glass jars and bottles used in their food products, trail-blazing the way to a circular economy. Even when a UK wide Deposit Return Scheme continues to be delayed.

Isabel, the Community Lead for Plastic Free Farnham, has been worked with three of her local business to achieve the Gold Award and is supporting many more. It’s proving a huge boost to plastic reduction locally. For example, just one of her businesses, The Bush Hotel, now use 4,000 less plastic items a month. That’s 48,000 items a year in just one business.

As part of the Gold Award, businesses are set a challenge to take action on plastic. This can be anything from writing a letter to their MP, getting involved with local community cleans or contributing to SAS Citizen Science, to pushing for change within their supply chains. We often see how much power SAS Plastic Free Champions have in driving change this way.

Take Avery & Brown in Farnham, who were unhappy with their commercial waste collection because it didn’t separate waste for recycling. So they decided to do something about it. They contacted their MP, and now their commercial waste contract includes recycling. A massive step forward locally and a change that benefits many businesses in Farnham.

Why are these seemingly small changes so important. Because added up they create massive change and a powerful national movement to stop plastic solution at source. That’s why the business dashboard they use is so important. By feeding back to Surfers Against Sewage all their awesome local action we can combine it, supersize it and leverage it to push for system change on a national scale.

Are you a Plastic Free Champion who joined your community before the online dashboard was created?

Sign up online today and get access to free support and resources

Not a Business Champion yet but would like to be?

Find out more about becoming a Plastic Free Champions