Luke Hall’s campaign to secure soft-plastic recycling services across South Gloucestershire has taken a step forward. Through the efforts of local residents, South Gloucestershire is continuing to lead the way on recycling, with consistently higher recycling rates and less waste being sent to landfill than Bristol and Bath and North East Somerset.
However soft-plastics, which includes items such as plastic bags, fruit and vegetable packaging, pet food pouches and yoghurt pots and lids, are not currently collected from residents’ domestic homes, with many families unable to regularly recycle these products.
Following a campaign launched by local MP Luke Hall, South Gloucestershire Council have now submitted a bid to the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs, DEFRA, to be part of a pilot scheme which would conduct a trial, collecting soft-plastics at the kerbside.
Luke Hall MP has backed the Council’s bid, and has written to DEFRA, asking for South Gloucestershire Council to be included in the trial scheme, highlighting the strong record of recycling showcased throughout our towns and villages.
In addition, Luke met with the Minister for Nature Recovery and the Domestic Environment, Rebecca Pow MP, to discuss South Gloucestershire’s local bid, and highlight the ongoing work to boost our local recycling rates in the region.
Luke said, “Being part of this pilot scheme will improve access and recycling rates even further right across our community and will be a real, positive step forward in helping to protect the Environment.”
“Whether it’s soft plastics, clingfilm, fruit and veg packaging, crisp packets or plastic bags, we want to be recycling them, and I am grateful for the community’s support on this vital campaign for our area.”
In support of the Council’s bid, Luke Hall has launched his own petition, calling for South Gloucestershire to be included in the pilot scheme, which you can sign at www.lukehall.org.uk/form/soft-plastics-for-south-gloucest
The soft-plastics recycling campaign is a key part of the local MP’s Positive Plan for the Environment and builds on the success already achieved by South Gloucestershire residents, with South Gloucestershire recently being placed in the top five of all Councils of its type*, in relation to its recycling rates.
