Call for Wiltshire to join battle against plastic waste

A motion debated at Wiltshire Council's February meeting called for WC to take action against Single Use Plastic (SUP). Cllrs Chivers and Clark said, "it is time for Wiltshire to take a lead on this issue." They pointed out that half of the plastic we use, we use just once and throw away, and that one million sea birds and 100,000 marine mammals are killed annually from plastic in our oceans.

Their motion asked the council to:

1. Develop a robust strategy to make Wiltshire a 'single-use-plastic-free' authority by the end of 2017 and encourage the County's institutions, businesses and citizens to adopt similar measures;

2. End the sale and provision of SUP products such as bottles, cups, cutlery and drinking straws in council buildings where possible;

3. Encourage traders in Wiltshire to sell re-usable containers and invite customers to bring their own, with the aim of phasing out single-use plastic containers and cutlery on markets stalls by the end of 2017;

4. Investigate the possibility of requiring pop-up food and drink vendors at large council events to avoid SUP's as a condition of their contract; and work with tenants in commercial properties owned by Wiltshire Council to encourage the phasing out of SUP cups, bottles, cutlery and straws.

A report drawn up by the council in response to the motion is dismissive. WC says the best answer would be government legislation similar to the plastic bag tax. Whilst admitting that "if residents purchased less single use plastic this would reduce demand for the council's waste and recycling collection and disposal services", which would save money, there would be costs involved in doing anything positive to encourage that to happen.

Similarly as long as traders see plastic as a cheap option they won't look at alternatives unless forced to by either government or consumers.

The council also points out that all the plastic that does get chucked away in Wiltshire ought not to end up poisoning the oceans, because it should get either buried in landfill or incinerated.

The motion was not debated but kicked into the council's obscure scrutiny process.