Beware plastic recycling

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For at least the last 50 years, Big Plastic and their advocates have told us that plastic recycling will solve our plastic pollution problems. It hasn’t. Big Plastic and Big Soda kept the plastic pollution crisis a secret for decades. These companies have lobbied governments to prevent effective measures to reduce plastic pollution whilst publicly pledging to reduce waste. As public awareness has turned to plastic pollution again, Big Plastic and their cronies tell us once more that plastic recycling is the way forward. It is not. We can and must do much better. Read full article.

Keep Swindon Tidy!

• Blogs from two marathon cleaning sessions at the Oasis and between Mannington and Blagrove. Shocking amounts of rubbish! How have we let this get so bad? What are we doing? What can we do?
• Poster making collaboration with online gallery
• The first Keep Swindon Tidy Day: a positive start to 2021.

Refill Swindon

Refill is an international scheme to reduce single-use plastic packaging by encouraging reuse. Founded in Bristol in 2015, it initially focused on replacing single-use plastic water bottles with reusable bottles. Hundreds of millions of plastic water bottles have been saved from polluting the environment. The scheme has now spread to food, drink and shopping. Refill Swindon launched in October 2018 and works to grow the scheme locally. Read more and make the change.

COVID-19 information

Scientists around the world collaborate to urge governments to use reusable PPE. Globally we have been using 129 billion masks and 65 billion gloves per month since the start of the pandemic. This vital info is addressed in the Summer of Refills campaign. and in the COVID-19 section of the library.

Government section

Our new government section provides information, correspondence with local MPs and simple actions. It includes:

• Toxic trade deals.
• The need to stop incinerating waste.
• The draconian Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill.
• The Environment Bill and The Plastic Pollution Bill.
• Zero waste, includes the Deposit Return Scheme.

Carbon reduction strategy consultation

The contribution of plastic to greenhouse gas emissions / climate change was not mentioned in Swindon Borough Council's draft carbon reduction strategy. We responded to the public consultation to highlight this, and suggested courses of action.