South Shropshire Climate Action
Recycle & refill
According to WRAP 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions come from plastic packaging – more than the 2.5% contribution from global aviation.
The best way to reduce the need to recycle is to avoid buying overly packaged items in the first place.
76% of the 8,300 million tonnes of plastic produced between the 1920s and 2015 became waste. Back then only 9% was recycled.
While recycling rates have increased, we can’t recycle our way out of the plastic problem. For example, despite 60% of people in the UK saying they use a refillable water bottle, 10m single use water bottles are still bought every day, 700,000 of which are discarded as litter.
Surfers Against Sewage have identified the worst companies for plastic pollution.
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Actions you can take
The following websites contains ideas and actions for how you can reduce you plastic use.
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Get involved in the campaigns and Big Plastic Count surveys of Every Day Plastic
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Surfers Against Sewage have a Plastic Free Communities campaign you can sign up to, to encourage your community and local businesses to go plastic free and they organise litterpicks and beach cleans
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Shropshire Against Pointless Plastic shows all of the local Shropshire communities who have already taken this step. Bridgnorth has been awarded Plastic Free Community status by Surfers Against Sewage
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Sign up to the Plastic Free July® challenge, an initiative of the Plastic Free Foundation. You will be sent weekly emails with tips, stories and news from the global movement
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Make your lunch box zero waste (poster is designed by Generation Zero Carbon Shropshire)
Refill opportunities in Shropshire
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The Refill website helps you to find places to eat, drink and shop with less waste www.refill.org.uk
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The Mossy Life Directory shows the shops all over Shropshire where you can go and refill your food, cleaning and toiletry products to avoid packaging (see map below) - and reduce your plastic consumption
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Get inspired by Shrewsbury Cup - a reusable cup available in cafes across Shrewsbury. Customers pay £1 deposit, enjoy their drink and then return the Shrewsbury cup to any participating café to get their £1 back. The cups are washed ready to be used again
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Recycling in Shropshire
Recycling in the UK is currently the responsibility of Local Authorities.
Confused about what plastics you can and can't recycle? Here is a guide from World Wildlife Fund to help you out.
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The TerraCycle scheme also helps people to recycle the unrecyclable (including crisp packets, cheese packets, pens, bread bags, coffee pods etc. etc). You can find your nearest collection point and what can be recycled via the website.
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Material Focus has created a tool to help consumers find recycling points for electronic items.