Keep God’s Own Country heavenly by reducing your plastic use with these great Yorkshire-based initiatives
Yorkshire is known for its Yorkshire puddings, accent and its exquisite country side. But did you know that West Yorkshire is helping lead the way with the plastic-free movement?
Leeds
Zero waste shopping
West Yorkshire has plastic-free shops galore. The Jar Tree is Leeds’ first zero waste shop. Located in Kirkgate Market, the shop opened up for the first time in September 2018. They sell all your kitchen essentials from rice, seeds, pasta and plenty of other plastic-free goodies. Ones to also check out include Chapel Allerton’s The Refilling Station, Brighthouse’s ReStore and Waste Not in Burley.
While you’re down in Kirkgate Market visiting the Jar Tree, buy your weekly vegetables from the well-loved market while you’re at it. With dozens of stalls offering plastic-free fresh goodies, this is an easy way to cut back on your plastic consumption instantly. It’s plastic-free, cheap, and gives you an excuse to chat to a bunch of northern-souled locals. What’s not to love?
Guiseley
Join weekly litter picks with Litter-Free Guisely
Want to help keep Yorkshire’s beautiful scenery clean? Guiseley has a Litter-Free Guiseley Campaign which keeps incredibly active, meeting every Sunday to keep Guiseley park clean. If you’re based in Hyde Park or Headingley, then keep your eyes peeled on Headingley and Hyde Park News who run park clean ups. The park becomes particularly littered during the spring/summer months when the students flock to Woodhouse Moore to enjoy the sunshine.
Wakefield
Buy bread from this local bakery
While Wakefield’s The Crow’s Rest Bakery doesn’t advertise itself speficially as plastic-free, this neat little bakery uses no plastic packaging and helps brings communities together at the same time. Owner and baker Alexandar Vaughan runs ‘community baking’ workshops to help bring people together, pointing to the therapeutic qualities to baking. She even encourages refugees to take part int the classes, saying: “baking is helps refugees to gain new skills and a greater sense of belonging to a new community – nothing like sharing bread to make someone feel at home!”
Bingley & Knaresborough
Join a community group for weekly meet-ups against plastic usage in your local area
There’s plenty of plastic-free initiatives going on in West Yorkshire, it’s just a matter of finding them! Keep connected by either joining Journey to Zero Waste Yorkshire, Plastic Free Bingley and Knaresborough Sparks Group on Facebook.
