A public-private initiative was launched on Friday, August 29, 2008, to make Oban plastic-bag free.The initiators were gratified to welcome to the launch meeting Ms Elaine Robertson (Councillor for Health), Ms Terry Donovan (organiser of the forthcoming ABREEF Environment Fair – http://www.argyllcommunities.org/ABREEF/) and Mr Bob McIllwraith (of ALIenergy – http://www.alienergy.org.uk/), some shop owners, as well as numerous members of the public.
The next photo shows the current committee members holding easily available reusable alternatives:
Margaret Powell (holding a wee woven basket from the Scottish Basketmakers' Circle, an organic cotton bag from Coop and an onya bag);GRAB Trust (http://www.grab.org.uk/) coordinator, Julie Fairbrass (holding a morsbag); and
Astrid Horward, Eco-Promotion, holding a basket from the Scottish Basketmakers' Circle and a 100% compostable, fully biodegradable bag from BioBags Scotland
(photograph © by Carlo Beuger)
Some sources of local and sustainable alternatives are (in no particular order):
• Pip Weaser of Kilmelford
artist and facilitator of the Scottish Basketmakers' Circle: http://www.scottishbasketmakerscircle.org; baskets grown and made in Argyll (baskets made by her group can be seen in the photo below, left)
• Annabel Gregory of Easdale Island
hand-made knitted and crocheted bags made from sustainably sourced jute (her bags in photo below, right)
Annabel holding one of her knitted jute bags
(© photograph: MPJ)
• "Smile In Argyll" (an Oban artist) = pod no. 90 of morsbags sociable guerilla bagging: http://www.morsbags.com
Annabel holding one of her knitted jute bags(© photograph: MPJ)
(Photograph © MPJ)fully biodegradable, compostable carrier bags and more: http://www.biobags.co.uk (the ones in top right corner in photo below)
(Photograph © MPJ)• ecomundi are the suppliers of the "Turtle Bag" (natural and coloured organic cotton string bags; see top right in photo below); also have lots of recyclable, biodegradable products: http://www.ecomundi.co.uk/eco/shop.php?cat=56
(Photograph © MPJ)• ecobags -- the name says it all (they have a great website, by the way, with loads more information)
http://www.ecobags.com
We will be more than happy to provide contact details for people who don't have websites. Just send in a comment. NOTE: All comments are monitored, no commentator's details will be published here.
Finally, a website that lists loads of shops and businesses that sell reusable and recycled products. Check it out for yourself: http://www.sort-it.org.uk
Biodegradable, sustainable, non-plastic alternatives:containers for big parties and the fast-food culture
(not that that is what I would particularly recommend) ...
(Photograph © MPJ)
We look forward to hearing from you!
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2 comments:
Hi All,
Pleased to find your site and blog. Welcome to the growing number of groups in Argyll who are waking up to the global issues about plastics! It is good to see Oban is following and joining in with the other towns, villages and islands in Argyll who have all been working away quietly for many months now and are already well into their own respective plastic bag free projects.
We noticed in your blog some discussion about the use of Biodegradable Plastics and we thought you might want to be aware that, if you want to ensure that things are as environmentally friendly as possible, then biodegradable plastic bags or biodegradable plastic packaging are a BIG NO NO!! They still harm our wildlife and when they breakdown they can end up as oceanic microplastics which attract poisonous chemicals (such as DDT amongst many others) in our seas, are ingested by plankton which will then inevitably enter our food chain. This is such a serious problem that scientists have now nicknamed vast surface areas of the world’s oceans as “plastic soup” . It is now thought that no area of the world’s oceans are in fact free from these microplastics, so it would be inadvisable to add to this problem if at all possible. Also GM products abound in the bioplastics industry except, we believe, for bags marketed under the name of "BioBags" at present. This is another issue your project might like to consider.
Good luck and welcome aboard!
Maggie Brotherston and Stephen Austin
Volunteers - Taynuilt Plastic Bag Free Project
Hi Maggie and Stephen
Great to hear from you!
Of course we are aware of the plastics issue. To make sure everything is clear and information easily accessible, we're publishing a new post on this issue (see post of Sept. 18, 2008).
Let's work together to reduce the "plastic soup"!
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