How do you do this?
- Support plastic free initiatives and the community groups working on them in your area.
- Work with Plastic Free Community leaders on the motion or resolution supporting Plastic Free Communities.
- Liaise with your community leaders to facilitate and promote the campaign locally.
- Encourage schools, businesses, community groups and individuals to get involved.
If you want to achieve status for your council
- Demonstrate leadership and set up a working group to examine the options available to become a Plastic Free Council.
- Perform a complete audit of avoidable, single-use plastic items used across council owned buildings and facilities.
- Develop a plastics strategy with specific objectives for eliminating avoidable single-use plastics. Link this to environmental policy, waste strategy and sustainable procurement policies where appropriate.
- Ensure appropriate recycling routes are available to capture plastic.
- Enable reuse and refill schemes to replace single-use plastic consumption.
- Encourage all staff to make sustainable food and beverage packaging and tableware choices and ensure use of the workplace recycling systems.
- Table a motion to propose the town, city or County council becomes a Plastic Free Council.
- Pass a resolution by majority vote supporting Plastic Free Communities in the area.
- Consider how you can promote the reduction of single-use plastics across the council area and involve collection and waste disposal authorities in this process.
- All Local Authority Maintained Schools schools to be part of an initiative to help them become plastic-free. If they make local purchasing and waste management decisions, you should provide leadership and encouragement to these establishments.
If you want to achieve status for your county or city, 70% of major towns, districts or boroughs should have achieved Plastic Free Community status with the rest working towards it.
