Campaign News, Case study Posted — 18 November 2020
New Post Accreditation Toolkit for Plastic Free Communities
As campaigners around the UK strive to drive plastic from their local environments, promote positive change and protect our planet for years to come through the Plastic Free Communities movement, one thing is clear – the work doesn’t stop at accreditation.
In fact, for many communities, ‘Plastic Free’ status is the first step in taking this crucial fight forward.
As we launch our new toolkit for accredited communities we’re re-visiting some of the key locations still making positive change happen where they live.
From collaborating with local stakeholders to driving community engagement, even in the midst of a global pandemic, communities are working hard to make sure their accreditation doesn’t just become just another certificate on the wall.
Plastic Free Penzance
Penzance was the first town in the UK to achieve Plastic Free status and, today, organisers have brought on board an incredible 135 businesses, as well as every school (bar one!) in their local area – two of which have already landed Plastic Free Schools status.
Now, the group boasts more than 50 Community Allies (including Championship Rugby team the Cornish Pirates) and has run numerous events, from beach and street cleans to awards nights, community workshops and a month-long exhibition.
And the result of all this hard work? Local projects are being set up to support the goals of the movement. And those are creating work experience opportunities for the town.
There’s even a broader initiative in the name of Sustainable PZ, geared at building on the movement and bringing the community together to tackle wider environmental and community issues.
Rachel Yates leads Plastic Free Penzance and says: “The momentum has been great and the community has really got behind us.
“It’s meant we’ve been able to build on the initial five objectives and look at what projects we can get off the ground locally to support businesses, schools, events, community groups and individuals.
“Things like our town-wide Plastic Free Events Charter, PackSwap PZ (where businesses can drop off plastic packaging for re-use in the community) and Refill PZ are all enabling people who live here to make an impact.
“Three years later – and despite Covid-19 – we’re still going strong and people continue to join the journey with us.”
Plastic Free Alderney
Stepping up as the second community – and first island – to land accreditation, Plastic Free Alderney has been taking their plastic fight straight to the main culprits – the supermarkets.
As a small island, they are absolutely reliant on UK supermarkets for the majority of their food items, but, following official status, organisers felt it was time to show their community that they were essentially being given plastic against their will, with little choice in available alternatives.
By hosting a Mass Unwrap at two of the main stores, they were able to raise awareness and build community engagement, particularly with the local press.
Plastic Free lead Claire Thorpe says: “We hoped this would help show communities are being given this plastic packaging against their will and that, where possible, they would have preferred alternatives.
“Unfortunately, nobody brought their own containers to swap things into, but this did help highlight the fact that still we could remove lots of the plastic – showing how unnecessary it is.”
Plastic Free Angelsey
When it comes to stakeholder collaboration and work on a regional basis, Plastic Free Angelsey is a shining example, particularly as the first county to land accreditation.
In fact, project lead Sian Sykes even took three months of unpaid leave in a bid to get the initiative fully off the ground, using the time to visit businesses, schools and organisations to spread the plastic free message across Wales.
It was a hard year’s journey from kick-starting the first meeting, but today the group has the full support of the council as well as local businesses, which had initially been wary of moving away from a disposable society.
Now, they continue to push more businesses and local organisations to adopt the initiative, too.
Sian says: “Stakeholder collaboration is critical as it’s important to have full support.
“I had the full backing of the council and the steering group, however, I needed to delegate tasks to other volunteers to really help the momentum going for its success.
“For me, I took on the challenge with working with the whole island rather than small pockets of the community. I wanted to make the process inclusive to everyone as I wanted everyone to benefit and make it accessible for coastal, rural and town-based communities.”
Plastic Free Wirral
With the largest population within the Plastic Free Communities to date, Wirral faced challenges in a different way than most.
For them, it was an issue of so many people wanting to be involved with the project, which, while showing incredible community commitment, also presented budget issues for the council.
However, by inviting MPs to beach cleans and engagement events, the slow process of getting the council on board was met with a positive result – accreditation.
Going forward, Plastic Free Wirral lead Rebecca Gillmore says continuing to nurture relationships is key to keeping the campaign going.
She says: “It’s changed things because having the council on board helped with press and getting the ball rolling.
“Because Wirral is so big, it helps that I run it as a regional rep on my own, because I have a lot of influence in the swimming, paddle-boarding and lifeguarding community, as well as with beach cleaning.
“Building that trust with the community and local council is what has helped me keep the momentum of the campaign going, even after accreditation.”
Plastic Free East Dulwich
It’s not only rural communities that see the effects of plastic pollution and stopping the it at source is just as crucial as cleaning it up when it lands on beaches.
That’s why Plastic Free East Dulwich, London’s first official Plastic Free Community, were quick to do their part in tackling this issue.
From the beginning, they not only approached local schools and businesses, but also partnered up with their local community festival to reach those groups that might not necessarily be environmentally-focused.
Now, several of their schools are working towards Plastic Free School status and the team hopes to collaborate with other London-based communities in the future.
Local lead Ric Baldock says: “Living in a city, it can feel like an issue that is far away, out of sight, out of mind but all rivers lead to the ocean. It doesn’t matter where you live, we’re all connected to the ocean and this is the focus of the talk I do in schools.
“As the nation’s capital and biggest city, London is not only a huge source of plastic waste, it is a great opportunity to convert a huge population and it’s where big business and legislation can be tackled.
“I have big plans for a cross-London collaborative event with the other Plastic Free Communities and as a London Rep I hope to make it a reality one day.
“As we say at SAS, if it’s on our street today, then it’s in our rivers tomorrow, and our beaches and oceans forever.”
In all there are 114 accredited communities across the UK with another 600 working towards Plastic Free status. This award winning network is firing up to keep on the pressure with the brand-new toolkit for accredited communities to help them take the fight further up the chain.
Communities are looping in with national SAS actions to target government and industry, with the aim of building on their initial foundations, empowering everyone where they live and creating a collective, national voice that can’t be ignored.
The toolkit will see them:
- Use their collective voice to call for policy and legislation
- Take local action, gathering evidence to feed into national campaign calls
- Engage with local councils on projects and policy
- Deepen action within local businesses to remove single-use plastic
- Link with more groups, schools and organisations to include the whole community
Join us as we continue to free where we live from single-use plastic.
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