Weymouth Town Council is helping to tackle the climate crisis by stepping up efforts to eliminate the use of Single Use Plastic (SUP).
At a meeting of the council’s Services Committee on Wednesday 1st December, members approved a new policy that would remove or replace SUP across Weymouth Town Council’s daily operations and services.
Examples of single use plastic used in the day-to-day operations include items such as food packaging, cable ties, aprons, and waste bags.
Cllr Ryan Hope, Chair of Services Committee, said: “Weymouth Town Council is making a stand to help phase out or replace single use plastic, wherever we can. But we can’t do this alone, we need everyone in Weymouth to play a part too and help stamp out single use plastic in our beautiful town.
“This policy announcement is the latest in a series of measures to help make Weymouth a cleaner and greener place to live, work, and visit.”
The town council declared a climate and ecological emergency in 2019 and these measures are being introduced to help mitigate some of the effects of a global crisis.
The council has already stopped using plastic cups at water dispensers in the Commercial Road offices, and water jugs and glasses are used at events and meetings. Where possible, SUP has been removed from council-operated cafes.
What else is planned?
The council will assess the extent of single use plastic across its services and at external events, so that action can be taken to minimise or eliminate their use.
Awareness raising with staff and councillors to mitigate use of SUP.
Encourage the use of recycled plastics where SUP is unavoidable. For example, waste sacks made from 100 per cent recycled polythene.
Support community beach cleans and litter-pick initiatives to help keep our parks, beaches, and open spaces free from plastic litter. Groups can already hire equipment for litter picks by visiting the website.
Next steps
Following approval at Services Committee, the policy and the action plan will now go to Full Council for consideration.
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