Stronger Together: The Allies Powering the Plastic Free Movement

Community Allies form the bedrock of a thriving, sustainable Plastic Free Community. By working together they unite communities, allowing local campaigns to reach more people, take more action, and reduce more single-use plastic.

What are Community Allies?

Allies can offer valuable support such as providing event space, attending events and spreading the message. They have the ability to promote plastic free action and raise awareness, and reduce single-use plastics in their work. They help the plastic free message reach different audiences, and in doing so they create a diverse and inclusive Plastic Free Community.

They can be local environmental groups, schools, colleges, universities, community spaces, sports teams, faith organisations, plastic free events, and media outlets, to name just a few. There is an incredibly diverse range of Community Allies currently working with Plastic Free Communities across the UK helping to drive local plastic reduction.

Impact From Across the Radio Waves

In June 2024 Emma Young, community lead for Plastic Free Thornbury, was invited to give an interview on Thornbury Radio. It was a perfect opportunity for Emma to explain the PFC campaign, its goals, the plastic pollution crisis, and how to reduce single-use plastics to a new wider audience of radio listeners. The idea of an interview came from one of the station’s DJ’s called Greg Evermore, who is also a mortgage adviser at Evermore Mortgage Brokers, an awarded Plastic Free Champion business already working with Plastic Free Thornbury. Greg saw an opportunity for the station to help Emma’s local campaign by pledging support as a Community Ally. Plastic Free Thornbury and Thornbury Radio are still supporting each other with ongoing radio reports, updates and social media posts.

Listen to the interview

Emma, from Plastic Free Thornbury, said: “The interview with the radio station enabled me to get used to speaking about Plastic Free Thornbury and since then the weekly report I do for Thornbury radio helps keep Plastic Free Thornbury in the spotlight.”

Youth Allies in Action

Debbie Apted, community lead for Plastic Free Weston-super-Mare, has been connecting with local Rainbows and Brownies youth groups to give talks about the Plastic Free Communities campaign and run community cleans with them. She delivered a talk to the 1st Uphill Beavers group, where they learnt about recycling, the impact of plastic on wildlife, and played a recycling game.

They continue to work together, and Debbie organised a community clean with the local Rainbows and Brownies groups at Castle Batch Park. Between them they collected an incredible 25kg of litter. Debbie was then officially presented with her own Litter Picking badge. Both the Rainbows and Brownies groups have now become Community Allies for Plastic Free Weston-super-Mare.

Debbie, from Plastic Free Weston-super-Mare, said: “Having been a Brownie myself sixty years ago, this means a lot and I shall wear it with pride.”

Community Cleans with A Soundtrack

Plastic Free Woolacombe became an Awarded Community back in 2018 towards the start of the Plastic Free Communities campaign. Since then, they’ve continued their local impact with monthly beach cleans at Mill Rock on Woolacombe beach.

They’ve teamed up with The National Trust North Devon and North Devon Silent Disco to bring music‑powered energy to their beach cleans. North Devon Silent Disco provide all of the music equipment, and Fraser from The National Trust North Devon handles the cleaning and disco equipment delivery and then the disposal of the waste at the end. As a long term awarded community, Woolacombe are showing how collaboration can create a sustainable Plastic Free Community.

Deborah, from Plastic Free Woolacombe, said: “Without the help from our Community Allies we wouldn’t be able to do what we do each month, and the added benefit of having the silent disco kit seems to definitely bring in more people to help us clean our beach.”

Growing Through Reuse and Support

Forest Gate Women’s Institute had been making plastic free bags for their London community and promoting the reduction of single use plastic for many years already, so it made perfect sense for Plastic Free Forest Gate to reach out about being a Community Ally.

The group provide reusable cutlery and china for their events, and avoid plastic for their homemade produce which they sell at the Woodgrange Market every month.  They’ve invited Community Lead Cathy, to give a talk to their members, and helped promote her campaign on their own stalls at events.

Cathy has also been collaborating with Forest Gate Community Garden. They signed the Plastic Free Pledge, and invited Cathy to talk at their plastic free spring event. They asked people to bring their own bags for plant sales, banned single use plastic from their party hire agreements, and only use washable tableware and utensils.

Sports Clubs Scoring Plastic Free Wins

Oadby Owls Football Club are a local community football club, run by volunteers with over 100 coaches providing football activities for boys and girls of all abilities, helping their social, physical and emotional development.

Plastic Free Oadby lead Shailesh encouraged the club to become a Community Ally, and they pledged to remove plastic cups, plates and cutlery from their catering operations, as well as raising awareness and supporting plastic free initiatives among the children and young people that attend the club. A brilliant example of the two-way relationship and support created by connecting with local sporting allies.

The close connection between Community Allies and Plastic Free Communities is one of mutual benefit, where each can help each other in return. From spreading their messages’ far and wide, providing local support in the form of physical space and people, and deepening the impact that both are able to achieve. By working together, they not only boost the reduction of single-use plastic in their community, but they build a united foundation on which to protect it for generations to come.

Find your local community >> https://plasticfree.org.uk/get-involved/find-your-community/

Find out what it takes to lead a community >> https://plasticfree.org.uk/get-involved/lead-a-community/

Get an action plan >> https://plasticfree.org.uk/get-involved/individuals/