Page 36 - Vegan Life - Issue 59 (February 2020)

If you buy your lunch or snacks from a
shop or supermarket you’ll notice that it
is oten wrapped in plastic.

• Use a reusable bottle refilled from
the tap
One million plastic bottles are bought
worldwide every minute, don’t contribute
to this number.
• Ask for paper wrapping — or none at
all — when buying produce
You can also take your own Tupperware
if you want food to stay clean and
undamaged.
You can also take advantage of email,
twitter and other social media channels
to make your voice heard. Unhappy with
the pointless plastic on your local café or
supermarket? Then send them a message
and let them know. Getting involved
with a local Friends of the Earth group,
or community organisation to campaign
for a reduction in plastic in your area can
also be extremely efective. But, if we
really want to see an end to the plastic
pollution that blights our environment
and harms our wildlife, then we need the
government to get drastic on plastic. Tax
incentives and bans on straws and stirrers
have been a welcome start, but they
must do more. This is why Friends of the
Earth and the Women’s Institute is calling
on the new government to introduce
comprehensive legislation to prevent
plastic pollution, including the phase-out
of non-essential single-use plastics by
as bags, straws, bottles and wrappers, sit down for a drink, instead of ofering 2025 — a measure supported by almost
this tide of plastic pollution also includes washable and returnable alternatives. nine out of 10 people.
tiny fragments from cosmetics, bathroom And, unnecessary single-use plastic If ministers are serious about
products, paints and tyres. This uproar isn’t only widespread, it’s oten even eliminating the plastic problem they must
has triggered a significant reaction, with encouraged. It’s ludicrous that buying legislate — it’s what the public wants and
retailers, manufacturers and politicians fruit and veg without plastic packaging the planet needs.
all feeling pressure to act. can too oten be more expensive than
Hardly a day now passes without a pre-packaged alternatives. Helen Tandy of Friends of the
new announcement on cutting plastic Personal action is important, and we Earth, Chester and District
packaging or removing straws and can all play a part in reducing the scourge
sachets. Media-savvy MPs are rarely of plastic pollution. There are many simple For many years the plastic-free revolution
seen without a reusable cup whenever things we can all do to avoid it, including: hadn’t been televised. Bubbling under
a camera is pointed in their direction. the surface, it was led by a passionate
Many of the new initiatives have certainly • Enjoy your morning cappuccino in a few — with nearly as much fight back
been welcome, but, if you look below the reusable cup as support.
surface, it’s clear that these actions are Fewer than one in 400 takeaway cups Chester residents, Helen Tandy and
only addressing the tip of a truly massive are recycled, and as many as 2.5 billion Dr Christian Dunn, had been aware of
plastic iceberg. Every day supermarket takeaway cofee cups may be chucked the issue even before Blue Planet aired,
products are still excessively wrapped each year. The vast majority end up in realising that the world simply could not
in plastic, restaurants continue to stock landfill or incinerators. sustain the path it was heading down.
tiny milk and ketchup sachets, rather Without a major rethink on plastic,
than refillable dispensers, and cafés • Cut plastic waste — and cash — by disaster beckoned. Working tirelessly, but
still provide disposable cups when you bringing a packed lunch to work separately, around the city, the duo were

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