Dear (candidate),

Plastic Free Swindon is a campaign to help phase out plastic pollution as soon as possible. It is one of the many plastic-free campaigns around the UK and part of the global Break Free From Plastic organisation. The campaign launched for Plastic Free July 2018 and has been very active in Swindon. The campaign so far has included the introduction of the Refill campaign to Swindon, the launch of Nude Foods (zero waste shop), litter picks around Swindon, an ecobricks group, education, lobbying, articles, art, music, and engagement. For further information, please have a look at the website: [Website address supplied].

Pollution, environmental destruction, disease, animal suffering, and loss of biodiversity are well-documented outcomes of the creation, use and disposal of plastic. We urgently need legislation to implement a timetable to reduce plastic pollution. Hence, we are asking all general election candidates in Swindon if they support the aims of the Plastic Pollution Bill, as follows:

1. To end the use of non-essential single-use plastics by 2025.
2. Prevent plastics pollution of the environment as a result of human activity as far as is possible using the best practicable means by 2042.
3. Progressively reduce the overall use of non-essential plastic in England.
4. Progressively eliminate plastics pollution from the environment, and where it is not possible to prevent or eliminate pollution, the pollution must be minimised as far as is possible using the best practicable means.

Ethylene acquired from fracking is being used to greatly increase plastic production. So we are also asking whether you and your party support a permanent ban on fracking.

So, for clarification, the two questions that we are asking all of Swindon’s general election candidates are:

1. Do you and your party support the aims of the Plastic Pollution Bill?
2. Do you and your party support a permanent ban on fracking?

Thanks,

Ben Bell,

Co-ordinator, Plastic Free Swindon.

Thank you for your email.

On the question of legislation, we will introduce our flagship Environment Bill. Leaving the EU is a defining opportunity for the UK to set its own course and take ambitious action to protect our natural environment for future generations. We are taking world leading action to take on the scourge of plastics. We have already banned plastic straws, drinks stirrers and cotton buds from April 2020 and the Environment Bill encourages producers to cut waste and protect our water resources.

This is on top of the action we have taken to ban microbeads, which can be so harmful in our waterways . Thanks to our efforts, plastic bag sales are down 90% since 2015 and the fee we introduced is being used for environmental causes.

Our manifesto announced that we will introduce a new levy to increase the proportion of recyclable plastics in packaging, introduce extended producer responsibility so that producers pay the full costs of dealing with the waste they produce. We will ban the export of plastic waste to non- OECD countries, consulting with industry, NGOs and local councils on the date by which this should be introduced.

You will know that I engage regularly with SCAN on the fracking issue and am very supportive of the Refill campaign.

The Government’s very recent announcement to suspend fracking is a welcome measure – its effect is to put the burden on applicants to demonstrate that the fracking doesn’t cause tremors. Having listened to local communities, we will not support fracking unless the science shows categorically that it can be done safely. I personally do not believe that this burden will be discharged by any future applicants.

I am very happy to support the aims of the Plastic Pollution Bill.

I hope that this helps and thanks again for getting in touch.

Yours,

Robert.

Many thanks for this.

I read the Plastic Pollution Bill with interest and certainly commit to support its aims. I would go so far as to offer to sit on the Committee because I do believe that only through a combination of behaviour change and scientific understanding of the life cycle impacts of the materials we use, will we be able to combat plastic pollution and also reduce carbon emissions. I have some policy experience in this area.

I also fully support a full ban on fracking, so does the Labour Party. There is no need at all to start down a road of setting up further fossil fuel extraction infrastructure when we should be focussing all our energies to reducing energy consumption and replacing fossil fuels with renewables.

I hope this has answered your question. Please feel free to share my answers.

Kind regards,

Sarah.

I really enjoy it when I can easily give an answer to a very important question. To both questions the answer is yes.

Significantly on this day [15th November] the Lib Dem party launched its policy on combating the climate emergency:

Lib Dems will spend £100bn on combating the climate emergency.

• The Lib Dems have set out a clear plan to tackle the climate crisis.
• An extra £100 billion will be pumped into combating climate change and protecting the environment when the Liberal Democrats take power.
• Across a five-year Parliament, Liberal Democrats will spend and invest an extra £100 billion of public finance on climate action and environmental preservation.
• This includes a new £10 billion renewable power fund to leverage in over £100 billion of extra private climate investment.
• This will fast-track deployment of clean energy, to make Britain not just the world leader in offshore wind, but also the global number one in tidal power too.
• And we will invest £15 billion more to make every building in the country greener, with an emergency ten-year programme to save energy, and fuel.

Best regards and a big thank you for your excellent work in Swindon.

Stan.

Thanks Ben.

I am proud that as a Councillor I introduced the kerbside recycling scheme. I have opened the two Advanced Recycling Technology facilities in Swindon (it is great, that we as as town are at the heart of a potential commercial breakthrough) and I have supported the additional money being invested into research to seek alternatives. I have also fully support pressure on retailers to reduce unnecessary packaging, including with plastics.

Thank you for the work you are doing in this important area. Happy to meet you post election to discuss ongoing works / campaigns, should I be re-elected.

Cheers,

Justin.

I absolutely support the Plastic Pollution Bill:

A statement from our Shadow environment secretary Sue Hayman, "Labour is calling for a truly comprehensive waste and recycling strategy that tackles our lack of domestic infrastructure to deal with what we throw away as well as further action to reduce waste at source and improve levels of recycling".

And from our shadow minister for waste and recycling, "Labour is calling for a root-and-branch comprehensive approach to dealing with our waste which reduces the amount created in the first place, recycles the maximum of waste that is produced and protects our environment from pollution".

Both myself and the labour party support a permanent ban on fracking.

Kind regards,

Kate Linnegar.

Many thanks for taking the time to write to me about Plastic Free Swindon and Swindon Climate Action Network.

As a long term eco activist I’m glad to be able to thoroughly support the aims of the campaign which you outline in your letter.

In my own career I have worked at Marks & Spencer HQ as Sustainable Development Manager where I helped turn the company Carbon Neutral, move to 100% sustainable wood and palm oil sourcing and to aim to send zero waste to landfill from the stores. I also introduced the 5p carrier bag charging scheme nationwide in M&S stores a full 7 years before the government caught up.

I’ve worked in Indonesia with WWF to stop the destruction of the rainforests of Borneo and I’ve also run start ups in the UK focussed on renewable energy and nature monitoring. The former, using recycled batteries from electric vehicles to create home solar energy storage.

I won a prize for my masters dissertation which looked at the behaviour of fossil fuel investors and the creation of the carbon bubble and have since then campaigned to keep fossil fuels in the ground given that we have far more fossil fuel in known reserves than we could ever safely burn. I have set up a Lib Dem Divest group and featured in the Times divesting my own pension from fossil fuels. Last year I volunteered my time with Sir Ed Davey to help craft policy ideas to tackle the 15% of global carbon emissions financed out of the City of London. I am now developing the idea of a Net Zero Business and Banking Bill which I outline here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/when-target-argument-net-zero-business-banking-act-katie-critchlow

Not only do I thoroughly support the ideas you outline to go plastic free, I would make it a priority of mine if elected to Parliament to actively push for legislation to create a plastic free, and fossil free UK. The liberal Democrat party also have very strong policies on climate and plastics and support a nationwide fracking ban, amongst many other ambitious and well thought through policies in this area.

I believe that these policies are not only vital for my kids future and the future of our planet but also an economically savvy strategy for Swindon. 7 billion people need to live on our planet without destroying our home. If we can innovate and create more a healthy, sustainable, circular economy the UK can lead the world in delivering a system which works for people and planet. Swindon, with its proud history in rail and automotive should be at the forefront of R&D to develop and manufacture zero carbon transport.

I would be most grateful for the chance to engage further with your community on this topic to ensure that the environment and climate change get the time and thought they deserve in this election.

Kind regards and best of luck for your campaign.

Katie Critchlow.

I played a small part in that SCAN Plastic Free July campaign by helping to put together the personal blogs of some SCAN supporters, who shared their experiences of cutting out single-use plastics. As one of the contributors I was already somewhat aware of the issues around the huge amounts of unnecessary plastic waste that we generate, and learnt a lot more as a result of being involved.

The Green Party have always been at the forefront of the fight against pollution of all sorts, and Caroline Lucas was one of the supporters of the Bill when it was presented to Parliament in February. Given all that, I have absolutely no hesitation in supporting the aims of the Bill. The Bill is well-balanced, with the separate targets for the elimination of single-use and other plastics, and a distinction for “essential” plastics (e.g. medical purposes where no alternative currently exists). I would also like to ensure that such measures are applied not only to new plastics but also to the historical waste that is currently sitting in landfill or floating in our seas. And to “progressively” I’d add “urgently and proactively”… this cannot be something that we spend years pondering over then waiting for industry and commerce to slowly roll-out the required changes.

On fracking, we are the only party that have consistently been opposed to it. We should be keeping known fossil fuel deposits in the ground, not searching for new deposits or exploring new ways to extract them. We are also the only party proposing to end subsidies for fossil fuels. It’s obscene that the UK Government is actively encouraging these planet-killing technologies despite its supposed commitments to decarbonise the economy and the imminent dangers that we face with the climate crisis. On a wider point, it is only the Green Party that have recognised that climate crisis as *the* number one issue facing us today, and the only party to have put forward plans that come near to tackling it.

Kind Regards,

Andy.