Oban Plastic Bag Free! on Oban FM radio

Oban Plastic Bag Free! is happy to acknowledge being given some excellent airtime on Oban FM radio this Sunday, December 14, 2008, from about 10:30 to 11AM. News editor Coll MacDougall invited Oban Plastic Bag Free! co-facilitator, Margaret Powell-Joss, along to chat with Councillor Roddy McCuish and Adam Hughes, President of the Oban Allotments Association, a sister organisation under the Sustainable Oban umbrella.

In the course of the radio chat, we highlighted the negative consequences of plastic degraded into microparticles that then attract toxins which mimic human hormones -- contributing towards reducing human fertility. We also addressed the issue of plastic pellets and microparticles being ingested by marine organisms and animals -- fish, mammals, birds, whose intestines are filled with plastic rather than food.
For more on this subject, view the video on the Marine Conservation Society website.

Councillor Roddy McCuish expressed his wholehearted endorsement of the Oban Plastic Bag Free! Initiative, asking each and every consumer to re-use bags and to stay away from non-biodegradable plastic. We appreciate his suppport and can only join him in his appeal.

Thank you, Oban FM, for providing this platform -- we will be back on ObanFM after our next meeting on January 23, 2008. More about that in our next post.

Winner of the Oban Plastic Bag Free! Poster Competition

The GRAB Trust project worker for Oban, Lorn and the Isles ran a poster competition to help with the Oban Plastic Bag Free Initiative. It was open to all Primary schools in this area. Nine schools participated in three categories – p1-3, P4-5, P6-7 – for a 1st, 2nd and 3rd prize in each category.
The Judges were David Lyon from Quarriers Rooftops Project, Michael Harvey (Shanks) and Elizabeth Mullen (Lorn & Oban Reuse Initiative = LORI)

The Prizes were:
1st Prize: handcrafted wooden pen made by The Employability Team, GRAB Jute Bag and GRAB Pencil made from recycled CD cases
2nd prize: a voucher to use in Orsay, GRAB Jute Bag and GRAB pencil
3rd prize: GRAB Jute Bag and GRAB Pencil.

The Winners were as follows (see photos at the end of this post):
P1-3 category
1st = Eilidh Munro (Barcaldine PS)
2nd = Shona McKenzie (Barcaldine)
3rd = Katie MacCorquardale (Barcaldine)

P4-5 Category
1st = Saffron Carmichael (Salen PS)
2nd Scott Paterson (Salen)
3rd Ben Collins (Barcaldine)

P6-7 Category
1st = Amy Greenwood (Barcaldine PS)
2nd = Charlotte Collins (Barcaldine)
3rd = George Needham (Achaleven PS)

The overall winner was Amy Greenwood, whose poster will be used to highlight the initiative in the windows of shops who are supporting the initiative.
Congratulations, Amy!
Prizewinners of Oban Plastic Bag Free Poster Competition: from back L to R: George Needham Achaleven PS, Amy Greenwood (Barcaldine and overall winner, Charlotte Collins (Barcaldine), Ben Collins (Barcaldine), Front row, Shona McKenzie (Barcaldine), Katie MacCorquardale (Barcaldine) and Eilidh Munro (Barcaldine). Photo © Julie Fairbrass, GRAB Trust, Nov. 2008