The volunteer group Wye Unnecessary Plastic, held an event outside Morrison’s supermarket recently, firstly to raise the awareness of the group amongst the people of Ross, and to talk about other ways to shop without using single use plastic.

There were table top demonstrations about shopping without the need to wrap everything in a flimsy plastic bag provided by the supermarket, the alternative being netting bags or paper bags. Another example could be taking your own tupperware or similar box to the deli counter to avoid the ready packaged choices.

The team showed how much hidden plastic there is, for instance glitter which seems to have become very popular for children at festivals and parties, there are bio-degradable alternatives. Other alternatives, for example tooth paste, is available from health food shops along with refillable dry goods, thereby ditching plastic toothpaste tubes.

As the team spoke to people they were offered a paper bag to enable the shopper to unwrap their plastic wrapped purchases and leave the packaging in a shopping trolley.

The Wye UP event coincided nicely with July’s Plastic Challenge, led by the UK’s leading marine charity, the Marine Conservation Society. They are urging residents to take on the Plastic Challenge and say goodbye to single-use plastic.

Although July is almost over, the charity hopes that those who took part in the Plastic Challenge will be able to continue reducing their use of single use plastic.

This change is something that the Wye Up group will continue to help support in Ross-on-Wye. If you want to be part of the group check out the website, which has hints and tips and the dates of their meetings www.wyeup.org.uk.See the full story in this week’s edition of the Ross Gazette, or subscribe to our online edition here