Plastic Free July – local groups and events

Plastic Free July is a global movement urging everyone to limit their use of single-use plastic. Don’t worry, no one is expecting you to go completely plastic-free, it’s all about reducing, reusing and recycling what we do use.

There are a number of local groups throughout North Herts working to help their communities, including businesses, schools, organisations and individuals, to reduce plastic waste and live more environmentally friendly.

Hitchin

Plastic Free Hitchin aims to free the town from unnecessary single-use plastics and reduce the town’s environmental impact. They are keen to recruit more people to take a pledge to stop using up to three single-use plastic items and have three events in July that everyone is welcome at:

Thursday 7 July – Hitchin Street Food Monthly at Market Square 4-9pm – Meet Myrtle the turtle and find out more about how to get involved with Plastic Free Hitchin.

Sunday 10 July – Triangle Garden Party – crafting with Myrtle the turtle.

Sunday 31 July – Pick'n'Nic at Windmill Hill – a litter pick followed by a plastic-free picnic for all the family.

Baldock

Baldock Beats Waste welcomes all helpers to a litter pick on Sunday 24 July from 10am to 12pm meeting in the High Street outside The White Lion.

Royston

Plastic Free Royston is brought to you by Royston Environmental Group (REG) with support from Royston Town Council. It currently has five businesses and threecommunity allies signed up but needs more to achieve plastic free status! Chair of REG Cllr Carol Stanier said: “This doesn’t mean you have to be 100% plastic-free, that would be practically impossible! But we can all make big reductions in the amount that we consume – if every local business or group were to give up just one piece of single-use plastic, Royston and the world would be a better place. Whoever you are, if you’re interested in helping Royston work towards the official plastic free status please get in touch via our website.”

Sunday 3 July – Litter pick 2-4pm – please register your interest: frierley.com/roystonenvirogroup

Letchworth

Plastic Free Letchworth is managed by Transition Town Letchworth, a local group of volunteers who are working to build a more sustainable Letchworth. Recently their focus has been on persuading more businesses to be ‘refill-friendly’ and promote this via the Refill app. In preparation for World Refill Day on the 16 June they undertook an audit of the town to encourage cafes to refill people’s own bottles, cups and containers. For instance, Vutie Beets, Miss Green Fingers and David’s Books café will fill up your reusable receptacles including your own lunch box! Fairhaven Wholefoods in Jubilee Road has a refill station for toiletries and household liquids, as has Bamboo Turtle, who additionally offer many foods through a refill service.

For Plastic Free July, the team will be challenging local people to ‘refuse’ single-use plastic and share their ideas and solutions on social media on how to replace four common household objects: shampoo, deodorant, laundry liquids and cleaning sponges and cloths.

Recognising that there is a way to go in reducing and eliminating single-use plastic, Transition Town Letchworth have a separate Terracycle project providing collection boxes in Morrisons, so that local people can drop off (clean and separated) hard to recycle plastic with Terracycle rewards going to local schools. Items collected include crisp packets, confectionary packaging, Pringles tubes, toothpaste tubes and some other dental products, and Aqua Optima Water Filters, check the website above for full details.

Plastic Free Letchworth also have a stock of litter pickers that they are keen to lend to any community groups wanting to do their bit.

To find out more about any of the groups search for them online and on social media.

North Herts community surgeries

Our Councillor Community Surgeries will have a plastic-free theme in July so why not pop along to find out more about reducing, reusing and recycling plastic:

Saturday 2 July – Hitchin, Market Place, 10.30am-12pm

Saturday 16 July – Letchworth, Garden Square Shopping Centre, 10.30am-12pm

Saturday 16 July – Royston, Market Hill car park by Carlos barbers, 10-11.30am

Plastic Free Communities Surfers Against Sewage, which runs the plastic free initiative in England and Wales, said: “We do not expect communities to be totally plastic free. Our aim is to tackle the single-use plastic crisis, so that’s the avoidable stuff that’s everywhere. Things like plastic drinks bottles, disposable coffee cups, sachets, bathroom plastics, excessive food packaging, takeaway containers etc. These are the things that have a huge impact on our environment and which we can make changes to eliminate.”

Councillor Steve Jarvis, Executive Member for Environment and Leisure, added: “We can all reduce our use of single-use plastics which cause untold devastation to the world’s environment, polluting our oceans and destroying wildlife. With everyone making small changes, we can all reduce our reliance on plastic – follow our top tips throughout July on social media to help you reduce your plastic use for the future.”

We’ll be sharing these events and lots of information on our social media channels throughout July to help you reduce, reuse and recycle your plastic in July and beyond – please share your #PlasticFreePledge with us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or Nextdoor.

More information: Join the plastic free revolution this July