Almost every tea bag sold in the UK now contains plastic, according to Ethical Consumer magazine.
The population of Britain drinks 165 million cups of tea a day, or two and a half per person. Continue reading
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Recycling
BRAG, EFoE highlight dangers of plastic pollution at Festival of Waste
Brentford Recycling Action Group (BRAG) joined Ealing Friends of the Earth (EFoE) at Brentford Market on 29 July to host an anti-plastic-pollution stall at the Festival of Waste organised by local mental-health charity The Cathja Project.
A plastic-bedecked octopus, created by EFoE for a previous event, caused a sensation, and we succeeded in collecting two and a half pages of signatures for Friends of the Earth’s petition asking for urgent government action to reduce manufacturers’ and retailers’ production of plastic waste. Continue reading
BRAG visits Southall Lane Recycling Plant
BRAG members Patti and Malcolm visited Southall Lane Recycling Plant last month and came away with a greater understanding of what can and cannot be recycled at the facility. Among other things, they viewed several “mountains” of collected materials in fire-resistant bays, a variety of machinery, and a clothes and shoes collector, shaped like a shed. Continue reading
Join West London Waste Authority for clothes swap at V&A on Sunday, 1 July
West London Waste Authority, in partnership with Global Fashion Exchange, will host one of London’s biggest clothes swapping event at the Victoria and Albert Museum this Sunday, 1 July, from 10am to 5:30pm. More information below. Continue reading
A Plastic Planet rolls out first-ever ‘plastic free’ Trust Mark
Environmental campaign group A Plastic Planet has launched the world’s first ‘plastic free’ Trust Mark, to let shoppers know which food and drink products have been packaged without plastic.
Early adopters of the Trust Mark include UK supermarket giant Iceland, Dutch retailer Ekoplaza and tea brand Teapigs.
For further information, click here.
Morrisons customers can now bring their own containers when buying meat or fish
Supermarket chain Morrisons has announced it will allow customers to use their own containers for meat and fish from the Morrisons’ Market Street Butcher and Fishmonger counters as from this month.
The new policy is part of a number of measures the Bradford-based supermarket is taking to reduce plastic pollution, in addition to committing to make all its own-brand plastic packaging reusable, recyclable or compostable by no later than 2025.
For further information, click here.
Leading retailers and manufacturers sign up to the UK Plastics Pact
More than 40 companies have signed up to a pact that aims to cut plastic pollution over the next seven years.
The firms, which include Coca-Cola and Asda, have promised to honour a number of pledges that include eliminating single-use packaging through better design.
They have joined the government, trade associations and campaigners to form the UK Plastics Pact. Continue reading
Help Thames 21 clean up the river in Hammersmith on 3 April
Join Thames21, in partnership with the Marine Conservation Society (MCS), on Tuesday, 3 April, in cleaning up the Thames in Hammersmith. The event will last from 11.45am to 2.30pm.
Volunteers will clean up a section of the Thames foreshore in Hammersmith to remove the litter that accumulates from the tidal motion of the river. Continue reading
Tips for using less plastic. No. 1
Reducing the amount of plastic you use needn’t be hard. With this post, BRAG kicks off a series of tips on how to do this, one tip at a time, and in no particular order of priority, so you can gradually introduce plastic-reducing changes into your routine. And we’d love to hear your tips, too.
Tip no. 1: Carry cutlery in your bag, and refuse offers of plastic knives, forks and spoons in food outlets. If you work in an office, keep a plate, bowl, glass and cutlery in your desk.
Handy tips for improving the quality of your recycling
China has recently announced that it will be taking less recycling from the UK. One of the main reasons for this change in policy is that much of the recycled material China receives is contaminated, meaning it is of poor quality or includes items that cannot be recycled, or that are difficult and expensive to sort for recycling.
A recent article on the Recycle Now website shows what we in the UK can do to improve the quality of what we put in our recycling bins. It also offers tips on what you can recycle and where to find your nearest recycling centre. To read the article, click here.
