Soft plastic recycling scheme expands

I AM delighted that every house in South Gloucestershire will soon be able to have their softplastic recycling waste collected at the kerbside, following our successful campaign.

Thousands of households across South Gloucestershire, including homes in Olveston, are already part of the trial, which is seeing items such as plastic bags, cling film, bread bags and crisp packets collected along with other recyclables in weekly collections.

More than 1,000 bags of material are being collected from residents every week, reducing the amount sent to landfill.

This initial success has helped us make the case that houses in households in Thornbury, Alveston, Tockington and the other Severn villages should also have their soft plastic collected, along with the other recycling, every week.

The national trial is helping to inform the Government and industry how soft plastic waste can be added to existing household recycling collection services, with plans to introduce consistent collections for all households in England in 2027.

Too many residents in our community have found it difficult to access soft plastic recycling, so when the opportunity came along, we submitted a bid to the Government which centred around South Gloucestershire’s impressive record for recycling rates, and the region’s mix of urban areas and rural villages, which will be perfect for softplastic recycling. the application from the local Council.

We launched a community petition, and I held a debate in Parliament, pressing the need for our community to be part of the scheme.

I also met with the Minister for Nature Recovery and the Domestic Environment, to hammer home the point that there is strong local demand for soft plastic recycling.

Delivering soft-plastic recycling is a key part of our positive plan for the environment in South Gloucestershire.

It will help boost our local recycling rate, and reduce the

Maypole tradition

CHILDREN from Iron Acton Primary School danced round the maypole on the village green as part of traditional May Day celebrations.

School executive head teacher Mike Riches said: "Children from across the school had been preparing their may pole dances ahead of the event. They did incredibly well!"

Hearing young voices

PUPILS from Winterbourne Academy were among 150 young people who gathered to talk to regional leaders about their future lives.

The students joined people from more than 60 secondary schools at Aerospace Bristol in Filton for the West of England Schools Summit, hosted by Metro Mayor Dan Norris, and co-designed with Creative Youth Network.

They were there to learn about the possible careers they might follow in the future and were asked to make their voices heard on key regional issues affecting their lives, with a chance to shape the policy decisions of the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority headed by Mr Norris.

The event included a series of interactive workshops led by regional employers, including a session from Bristol Energy Network on cutting energy use and a test of the engineers and planners of the future using a LEGO model of a city under the shocks and stresses of changing weather conditions.

Ten students were also able to pitch policy ideas to Mr Norris and a panel of business leaders in a live Dragon’s Den-style competition.

Mr Norris said: "They told me their number one issue was the climate and biodiversity emergency we face, but more importantly they also looked for solutions."

Mr Norris said ideas from the young people will directly feed into WECA policy - including an upcoming West of England plan for transport - and said the authority would issue progress reports on how the summit has shaped change.

He said: “This summit was all about asking young people what kind of West of England they want to see - and turning their ideas into reality.”