East Cambridgeshire District Council (ECDC) has unanimously passed a motion committing to reduce single use plastics and to encourage others in the district to do the same.

At the Full Council meeting held last night (Thursday 19th April), the Council agreed to endorse the Government’s initiative “A Green Future: Our 25 Year Plan to Improve the Environment” as well as committing to a number of pledges including reducing the reliance on single use plastics across the district.

Through the motion, the Council acknowledges it has an important part to play in meeting the ambitious targets set out in the Government report by acting as an example to public, private, voluntary bodies and individual members of the community.

Cllr Anna Bailey, Deputy Leader of ECDC, who tabled the motion, said: “If all the plastic bottles that are not collected for recycling in the UK each year were placed end to end, they would go around the world 31 times. That is a huge amount of plastic which is damaging our seas and eco-systems. It is clear that wide-scale change is required across the whole of society to reduce our reliance on plastics, keep the plastics we do use in the economy for as long as possible and  to keep all plastic out of our oceans and seas.”

“Actually, it is not the big sweeping gestures that will ultimately fix this problem; rather, it is the small, every day conscious acts carried out by individuals across East Cambs, across Cambridgeshire, throughout Britain and the world that collectively will get the result our planet needs.  But, it is important to start somewhere and with this motion ECDC is signing up to change our own DNA, to influence as many other organisations and people as we can to do the same, and to regularly and publicly test ourselves on how we are doing.”

As a result of the motion, ECDC and its trading companies will initially focus on plastic packaging and will aim to:

• Eliminate within the Council unnecessary and problematic single-use plastic packaging.

• Make sure within the Council that all plastic packaging is reusable, recyclable or compostable.

• Continue to increase the ease of collection and recycling of plastic packaging within East Cambridgeshire.

• Encourage businesses in East Cambridgeshire to increase recycled content in plastic packaging to drive demand for recycled material.

• Impassion and enable residents and businesses in East Cambridgeshire to play their part in reducing plastic packaging waste and litter.

During the debate Ely Markets was singled out for special mention in its work to tackle the problem.  The Ely Markets team has recognised changing shopping habits, with people increasingly buying smaller amounts, more flexibly, more often and has responded by introducing new mini-markets on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays.  The team also actively encourages people to bring their own reusable shopping bags, coffee cups and containers. 

Cllr Richard Hobbs, Markets Champion said “Traders are happy to weigh fruit and veg directly into people’s own shopping bags and we are seeing more and more people arriving at Ely Markets with their own reusable coffee cup and containers.”

Cllr Bill Hunt, who seconded the motion said: “This is the start of a journey; the use of the word “purge” is deliberate.  I have no doubt that there will be examples of single use plastics creeping into the Council and all Council staff and Members will have to be relentless in our efforts to keep our eye on the ball and get to where we want to be.”