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Following the reports of huge amounts of unrecycled plastic waste left on the streets after St Paul’s Carnival, Greens are calling for the Council to make sure that lessons are learnt ahead of this weekend’s balloon festival. Green councillors also want Bristol Council to stop dragging its heels and implement a policy on plastics waste as soon as possible, including a ban on single-use plastics at council events.
This follows recent action to tackle single use plastic, including a proposed EU ban on some single-use plastic and news that single-use plastics will be virtually removed from Westminster. Across Bristol, campaigners have also been holding ‘plastic attacks’ where they return packaging from their shopping to local supermarkets to raise awareness of over-packaging.
Green Councillor Martin Fodor, who has a petition calling for the Council to play its part eliminating single use plastics, said:
“Like many residents, I was saddened by the mounds of rubbish on the streets following St Paul’s carnival and shocked to hear that much of the litter picked up after the event wasn’t even recycled. This just simply isn’t good enough, so I hope lessons will be learnt ahead of this weekend’s balloon festival. We need proper licensing to reduce waste at events, larger recycling points and more resources to make sure any waste left over is recycled.”
“Single use plastics waste fossil fuels, litter the streets, and eventually cause huge amounts of damage to wildlife on land and at sea. We just can’t go on allowing our city to be flooded with throwaway plastic every time there’s a major event.”
“Bristolians are way ahead of the council on this, and expect proper event rules and facilities now – look at the way Redfest had a series of environmental plans in place, including reusable beer cups, water refill points, and compostable food trays. When will the council provide some consistent event standards and support, so traders and small groups know what requirements they have to meet? We’ve had green events guidance published in Bristol since 2015 but don’t seem able to implement it ourselves on our land or for the major events in the city we support.”
“There are a lot more things the council could be doing to support and enforce a ban on single use plastics, for example through events licensing, as a provider of services, and as a partner working with other organisations – we need the Mayor to step up and support them now. After a year or more talking about taking action on plastic within the council, it’s about time for action.”
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