Bank Holiday Plastic: What we can do about it

We are in Bank Holiday heaven – if such a thing exists. A late Easter and then an extended Bank Holiday for the Platinum Jubilee are coming at a time when the weather really starts to sort itself out for the summer.

It’s a great opportunity to reconnect with mates and family and community after a couple of years of various restrictions and lockdowns. Parties are back on, in all forms. ‘Work’ parties included.

Outdoor music events, festivals, fairs, traditional street parties (which are making a cool comeback). Getting out and about on the coast, in green spaces and up mountains. Or just hanging out at the pub, the local café or in each others’ gardens, if we’re lucky enough to have one.

With that, comes the risk of this:

Here are five things we can do to help combat plastic hell:

Refuse

Take a refill coffee or festival cup out with you and ask for your brew or beer to be put in that, rather than a disposable cup. Refill is perfectly safe and while vendors have always had the right to refuse, the more of us who ask, the more it’ll be become normal practice

Reduce

Don’t buy stuff in single-use plastic where you can. If you’re organizing a get-together at home or in the street, get everyone to bring a plate. Works out cheaper than loads of supermarket-bought party and picnic food too.

Reuse

Take a refill water bottle to keep your H2O topped up, whether out for the day on the coast or celebrating in town with a few drinks. Other things we can do: take our own reuse cutlery, tubs and bags for food-on-the-go or shopping.

Recycle

Whatever waste we do create (and we will because the system doesn’t yet enable most of us to live plastic free) get rid of it responsibly. Take it home and recycle everything that can be. Even if there are bins available. It leaves more space for those that may not think to take waste home, but who do want to put it somewhere out the way.

Rethink

How can you do things differently? Post lockdown our Generation Sea Survey found 90% wanted to change the way they do things to support the ocean. 60% were going to increase refill, two thirds wanted to reduce the plastic they buy. How does that look to you this bank holiday season?

Get more ideas with our Individual Action Plan – you can get a copy here. And as always share what you’re doing and what you see around you on Insta and Facebook to inspire others. Or raise awareness of any plastic pollution you see. Just tag #plasticfreecommunities and @surfersagainstsewage so we see it.

Thanks to SAS Brighton and Hove for the images, @sasinbrighton.