2008-05-06T08:49:00.000-07:00

Aims

Principle aims

To persuade 35 shops in Newington Green (3,500 residents) to permanently stop giving out single use disposable free plastic bags.
To therefore be the first community in London to achieve this.

Further aims

To persuade all 55 shops in the wider area to follow suit.
To be an inspiration to other areas in NE London so that eventually Hackney and Islington can become totally plastic bag free.
By highlighting plastic bags, increase awareness of the damage all unnecessary packaging does to the environment
By using plastic bags as a symbol of our wasteful society, increase awareness of our current unsustainable mode of living
Empower the community, strengthen our sense of community, bring together our very divided and diverse communities, be a catalyst for regeneration and environmental and technological progress
Gain press coverage for Newington Green as a pleasant and progressive place to visit

Strategy

Done

Form core team of volunteers
Write to all shopkeepers
Source free organic fairtrade cotton bags to give away
Apply to co-op community fund
Write article in local newsletter to explain the campaign

Start a ‘KEYS – WALLET – SHOPPING BAG’ campaign to persuade people to never leave the house without a shopping bag.

To Do

. Organise a trial week 13th-19th July 2008 where as many shopkeepers as possible agree to not give out plastic bags. Ask shops to display a poster one month beforehand warning that they will not hand out any bags during that week, and explaining why. Organise good press coverage for the final Saturday. Invite all relevant politicians and local well-known people. Organise a table/stall, good quality information to give out, a banner & t-shirts, & have the stall manned as much as possible during the week.

Commission charismatic map of shops, highlighting those who have signed up, & Reproduce the map online and give people environmental ratings.
Get 1,000 people to pledge to not accept plastic bags from shopkeepers.

Get endorsements from MP & well-known local people & put them on the website
Write to all residents & shopkeepers after the trial week, asking them to make the ban permanent from September.
Persuade shops to make their first order of cornstarch bags.
Continue to disseminate information on why plastic bags are bad and about the alternatives (cornstarch etc), during days of action between now and the trial week, on the Green, with a table, banner etc.
Give out a windowsticker for the shops who have agreed to join us.
Get the local primary school involved - a project to make a banner for us, to make shopping bags out of unwanted material, and teach the children about the damage plastic does to the environment so that their parents refuse plastic bags from shops.
Continue to collaborate with all local groups - Newington Green Action Group, Stoke Newington PB group, Highbury Community Association, Islington Council, local councillors for the wards, Friends of the Earth local groups (both Hackney and Islington).

Support and things in our favour

94% of residents support a ban (in a poll of over 100 people)
Fantastic support and commitment from Islington Friends of the Earth and Islington Council.
Good press support
60 people have already pledged not to accept any plastic bags.
66% of residents would pay for a bag
Most local shops are independent and have unbranded bags
3,000 organic fair-trade cotton promised by Islington councillors Anna Berent and Rhodri Jamieson-Ball.

Further steps once single-use plastic bags have been banned

Persuading the three dry cleaners to join the movement
Persuading the late-night takeaways to join
Persuade Tesco’s to join

Other ideas
Produce a postcard that customers can give to shopkeepers to ask them to stop giving out plastic bags, to emphasize that there is public support.
Have a card that shopkeepers stamp every time a bag is re-used. Free bag every ten stamps.
Bags that customers can borrow having paid a deposit which will be returned if they return the bag

Future

After the agreed date the ban should work without policing, as others have done elsewhere. But the situation should be monitored at 3-month intervals until equilibrium has been reached and any teething problems sorted out.

action plan for plastic bag free newington green