Moorlands Climare Action

MOORLANDS CLIMATE ACTION Gearing up to be a ‘plastic free’ town

Mark Sidebotham co-owner of Waste Not Want Not in Leek which has become a Plastic Free Champion for the town

Agroup in Leek is aiming for the Moorlands town to be recognised as a plastic free community. Moorlands Climate Action has begun the process to hopefully gain the recognition from the UK network Plastic Free

Communities. One business, Waste Not Want Not, which is situated in St Edward Street, has already become a Plastic Free Champion as part of the initiative. Moorlands Climate Action member Sally

Perry is taking the lead on the plastic free campaign for the town. Sally told the Leek & Moorlands

Echo: “Plastic Free Communities is a UK wide network created by

Surfers Against Sewage to try to free communities from a reliance on single-use plastics. “It is not about removing all plastics from our lives, it is about kicking our addiction to avoidable single-use plastic and changing the system that produces it. “Throwaway plastics last a lifetime in the environment causing pollution, injury and death. “In some parts of the ocean there is more plastic than plankton. “Using less plastic isn’t just about cleaning up our environment. 99 per cent of plastic is fossil fuel derived and carbon emissions from plastic production are set to triple in the next 30 years.”

Sally added: “Leek is at the beginning of it’s journey to becoming a Plastic Free Community. “To achieve this status there are several things we need to do. We need support of the town council and also need local businesses to become Plastic Free Champions, swapping out three items of single- plastics for alternatives. Waste Not Want Not is our first champion. “We are also looking for organisations, clubs etc to become Community Allies. “These can be schools, churches, Scout and Guide groups, sports clubs, Rotary club, choirs, youth clubs. “The list is endless. So far 4th Leek Scouts have made a pledge to reduce their use of single-use plastics. “So you can see we have a long way to go on our journey and if anyone can support us in anyway that would be great.”

For further information about the national initiative, go online to plasticfree.org.uk.

To keep up to date with Moorlands Climate Action, find the group on Facebook.