carbonneutraltourism.co.uk

Yesterday Virgin Atlantic ran its first flight using bio-fuel on a Boeing 747 flying  from London Heathrow to Amsterdam.  The bio-fuel powered one of the four engines on this test flight.

On Saturday 3rd May 2008, Aylsham will become Norfolk’s first ‘Plastic Bag FREE’ town.

Today sees the start of the countdown to this big switch from plastic, with 10 weeks to go.

Plastic bags are an unnecessary waste of resources using up precious oil, creating litter and being disposed of in their millions in landfill where they are slow to breakdown. Less bags mean a better, more sustainable environment. With this backdrop Aylsham decided to ‘go for it’ and be the first town in Norfolk aiming to be ‘plastic bag free’.

After a couple of public meetings, an Aylsham ‘Plastic Bag FREE’ working group was formed with representatives from the traders, Cittaslow, Aylsham Town Council, Broadland District Council and Norfolk County Council.  The working group decided that they wanted Aylsham to be the first town and realised it was time to pick a date and work towards it.

The first step towards a plastic bag free town is encouraging traders in Aylsham to only supply alternatives to plastic bags to their customers.  Already over 30 traders have pledged to encourage their customers to bring their own shopping bags and where required use biodegradable bags.

Of course the most important traders to get involved are the main users and suppliers of plastic bags like supermarkets and food shops.  However support from other businesses is vital and the list of participating traders shows a good cross section.

Budgens, who probably use more bags than all the other traders in the town put together, have pledged to remove plastic bags from their store.  Neil, the store manager, says they already use paper bags for fruit and vegetables, so they are looking at removing the dependence on carrier bags at the tills.

Crawford, of G F White Traditional Family Butchers, has also pledged to remove plastic bags, despite being tightly constrained by the health and hygiene rules.  Of course putting a kilo of liver in a paper bag just isn’t an option, so Crawford is looking at alternative biodegradable bags for that type of produce.

J B Postle have different issues, as most people who visit their electrical store don’t have a shopping bag they can fit a toaster or kettle into.  Nikki and John are sure they can find a way to keep their customers happy and stop using plastic bags.

Other shops who have taken the pledge include Aylsham Post Office, Burebank Books, J Christian Jewellers, Break Charity Shop, Shoe Box and Celebrations card shop.  Hair dressers, beauticians, opticians, nurseries and an art gallery have all joined the scheme.  A full list of traders who have made the pledge to be involved are listed on the website www.aylshamplasticbagfree.co.uk

Naturally some traders have concerns and questions about going ‘Plastic Bag FREE’.  We’ve been reliant on plastic bags for so long now, that to switch appears expensive and most importantly a hassle.  On the website we’ve tried to answer trader’s questions and we expect to add and edit the site constantly between now and 3rd May to help the process as much as possible.  Cooperative buying of biodegradable alternatives to plastic bags is a possibility and traders are discussing the options.

Traders wanting to join the scheme are welcome to visit the website www.aylshamplasticbagfree.co.uk and download the letter of support.