Do you want to see a plastic-free Cymru? Follow these tips to start doing your bit
Transitioning to a plastic-free lifestyle can be a difficult for anyone, but it’s especially hard if you’re doing it alone. Finding like-minded people in your local area can be a great way of starting your plastic-free journey. Here are some great tips to get you started on keeping the beautiful Welsh landscape free of plastic waste.
Coastal cleaning
The areas perhaps most affected by single-use plastics are our oceans, with plastic inevitably ending up littering our beaches. With this in mind, many organisations run beach clean-ups to try and rid our beaches of the scourge of plastic. The Big Spring Beach Clean is a nationwide initiative which has drawn in over 150,000 volunteers in five years. In South Wales it’s held on the 7th April in Ogmore-By-Sea and is a great way to contribute to the plastic-free movement and have a nice day out. To get involved visit their Facebook event and click attending.
Care in the community
Alternatively, if you want to get involved but don’t live near enough to a beach, you could go to your local park and do some litter-picking. You can do this off your own steam or through a pre-planned event, such as the Co-op Litter Clean Up in Canton, Cardiff. It’s a monthly event ensuring Victoria Park in Canton is kept clean and litter-free.
Be a plastic-free consumer
We understand this is difficult as most major supermarkets’ products contain reams of plastic packaging, but there are alternatives. If you live in the Cardiff area, a completely waste-free shop has recently opened up in Pontcanna offering a guilt-free option. Alternatively, most supermarkets offer many of their products, especially fruit and veg, plastic-free. Morrison’s have a current scheme which offers 100 reward points for anyone who brings their own containers for meat and fish.
Credit: Viva Organic
Recycle, recycle, recycle
Wales is notoriously one of the best countries in Europe for going beyond the call of duty for recycling. Recycle for Wales have some great info on their website of how to recycle all your plastic waste and anything else you’ve got lying around.
Credit: Recycle For Wales
Go for local produce
One of the best parts about living in Wales is the high-quality fresh produce readily available all around you. There’s outstanding meat, fresh veg and anything you need to make a slap-up dinner all sitting in your local market, butcher’s or greengrocer’s. Swansea Market, Wales’ biggest indoor market, is well known for its great local produce, and the best thing is, you can bring your own containers for what you buy.
