Get Drastic with Plastic!

Transition Evesham, Vale has launched a major campaign aimed at reducing plastic usage in the Vale of Evesham by 50% in 2018. Campaign leaders and supporters gathered in Evesham Market Place on a chilly Monday morning to kickstart the initiative. David Haslam opened proceedings explaining why the campaign is necessary, and he was followed by passionate presentations by local politicians. Richard Jones, the Mayor of Evesham spoke about how his business was at the forefront of recycling plastic printer ink cartridges. Other speakers included Emma Stokes, Environment Lead for Wychavon District Council, Margaret Rowley, leader of the Liberal Democrats, Colin Tether and Julie Tucker for the Greens. The pupils of St Egwins were in many ways the stars of the show, with their plastic turtle sculpted from waste plastic bottles. Their shared speech captured the spirit of the campaign perfectly:

Each year it is estimated over 100,000 marine mammals die from ingesting plastic.

We have collected and produced this turtle sculpture, ‘Wins’ in a short space of time.

It was shocking how easy it was to collect so much plastic waste.

The waste is mostly single use plastic bottles, all from just one school.

We called the turtle ‘Wins’ after St Egwins’.

We are showing the positive use of art to highlight an environmental issue.

A healthy earth needs healthy oceans.

35.8 million single use plastic bottles are used per day in the UK but only 19.5 million get recycled.

It is all our responsibility to address this issue.

We ALL need to GET DRASTIC WITH PLASTIC!