Take The Plastic Challenge

In Week One, we just shop as normal – but collect together every bit of plastic packaging that comes home with the shopping. Keep a note of how much packaging comes into your life in a single week.In Week 2, we aim to avoid as much as possible of the throw-away plastic we brought home in Week 1. To do that, we’ll need to change the way we shop – in particular, seeing if we can avoid single-use plastic packaging.And we will celebrate at the end of Week 2, on Saturday 26 May, with the creation of a temporary sculpture from plastic collected during the Challenge Fortnight.

Why take the Plastic Challenge?

Plastic is durable, flexible and much lighter than most alternative packaging materials – so food and drink can be transported easily and kept longer. But plastic is also one of the worst of polluters, as it doesn’t easily degrade and can remain in the environment for a very long time. Plastic is especially damaging in our seas – up to a million marine animals a year are killed by plastic debris.

Most plastics are also made from oil, which is a non-renewable resource. Around 4 per cent of total world oil production is used for food packaging – much of which is used just once before ending up in landfill. So the challenge is to cut down on plastic and cut down on its waste.

Let’s get going!

To help you meet the Plastic Challenge, we are publishing tips and advice in the run to the Challenge Fortnight.

And to inspire you to take up the Challenge, we will be screening Hawai’i: Message in the Waves on Friday 11 May – a film from the BBC Natural History Unit about the way plastic, among other things, poses a threat to the wildlife of the Hawai’ian Islands.

To find out more – and to register to take part in the Plastic Challenge – phone Transition Stratford on 01789 298503 or e-mail us at plastic@transitionstratford.com.