Plastic Free Campaigners Unwrap Woking
9th March 2019
Shoppers in Morrison’s were encouraged to hand back plastic packaging at the supermarket tills, in a bid to highlight how much of what we buy is unnecessarily wrapped.
Plastic Free Woking joined communities across the UK hoping to instigate a nationwide ‘Mass Unwrap’.
Organised as part of the Surfers Against Sewage Plastic Free Communities campaign, the purpose of a Mass Unwrap was to show the high levels of plastic packaging being used and put pressure on supermarkets to help make changes. It’s one of a number of actions the local group in Woking are taking as they try to reduce the impact of single use plastic in the area, such as working with local businesses, community groups and schools.
Mass Unwraps are a great way to visually show the sheer scale of plastic packaging. 59 billion pieces of plastic packaging are distributed every year, that’s 112 thousand pieces every MINUTE. Supermarkets, being one of the focal points of a community, are in a unique position to be able to raise awareness of this in a positive way, through these non-confrontational and family friendly awareness events.
Maggie Hussain, lead volunteer for the event, said: We aim to bring our community together to built a better, brighter future. We are the voice for our planet, on a mission to stop plastic pollution.
The event was held over a two-hour period and in that time shoppers shop and pay as normal. When they move away from the till they can then visit a Mass Unwrap volunteer, who will help them take any unnecessary plastic packaging from their purchases and put it in a trolley for recycling or disposal. Counting up the items as they go volunteers will be gathering evidence to show the scale of wrapping used.
Maggie Hussain, lead volunteer for the event, added: Become a part of a solution and join our growing community of volunteers – have fun, make new friends and feel empowered to make a change!
More information:
Plastic Free Communities: www.plasticfree.org
Surfers Against Sewage: www.sas.org.uk
Surfers Against Sewage Plastic Free Communities is an ambitious community initiative designed to unite and empower individuals, small businesses, local government and community groups to reduce their collective plastic footprint and protect the environment together. Driven by inspirational local volunteers, we are building a new and exciting community movement tackling single-use plastics and plastic litter in our villages, towns, cities and rural locations. This highly inclusive initiative, created for all ages and backgrounds, is designed to get the whole community active and do something positive to reduce the amount of plastic in the local environment. We believe that united communities lead to cleaner beaches, streets, parks and riverbanks.
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