Her and her colleagues in Lyme Regis have been campaigning to encourage local businesses, big supermarkets and individuals to ban the use of plastic carrier bags in favour of more eco-friendly ways of collecting shopping. It was a very inspiring piece and indeed has encouraged other towns to start similar schemes and encouraged individuals to look at how much plastic is in use in their daily lives and what it's impact on our environment truly is. Here are a couple of quotes from the website (http://wsww.turnlymegreen.co.uk/):
"We use them for an average of 12 minutes - but their lethal effects last between 15 and 1000 years."
"Every year, British shoppers get through about 10 billion plastic bags. And every year, around 2 million dolphins, seals, seabirds, turtles and whales are killed by plastic bags in our seas."
"Over 99 per cent of plastic bags cannot be recycled. The ones that are collected must be disposed of in landfill sites."
The site then goes on to suggest ways of reducing this mountain of plastic including information from sites such as http://www.morsbags.com/ which is a fantastic initiative set up to encourage people to get together and make their own bags and even local groups to hand those bags to shoppers going into the supermarket.
The people of Portugal are passionate about recycling with brightly coloured bins for all materials all over towns and villages and in shops and cafes. The old way of using local shops and markets to collect your shopping has given in slightly to the new super large, supermarkets and have produced more waste there is no doubt - but there is still a resistance to the use of plastic and many people are still in the habit of using baskets and boxes to collect their shopping. Some organisations such as Makro and Lidl don't provide bags at all and shoppers manage very well there. However, laziness is definitely creeping in so it is important to be vigilant and remind people that their are alternatives.
Hannah's site and the work of the people involved in Turn Lyme Green has definitely inspired me to reduce my waste and use of plastic and to pass the message on.
