Yesterday, in my capacity of Chairman of the Protect our
Waves All Party Parliamentary Group, working with Sky TV, I hosted an event
calling on MPs to pledge to cut the amount of plastic used in Parliament with
the aim of making the UK the first plastic free Parliament.
In our constituency we have many miles of stunning
coastline, beautiful beaches and amazing seascapes. People come from all over
the world to enjoy our wonderful natural environment. Interspersed with all of
this is all too obvious marine menace – the plastic foe that has invaded our
waters.
Since my election in 2015 I have chaired the Protect Our
Waves APPG and along with the renowned campaigners at Surfers Against Sewage
have worked hard to highlight the problems we are storing up for ours and
future generations with our reckless use of single use plastics.
Recently, and in the last year in particular, this
Government has taken steps to reduce the amount of plastics we use and waste.
There is the plastic bag charge, that was just extended in the recent Budget that
has caused nine billion fewer bags to be used since its introduction in 2015,
as well as generating more than £66m given by supermarkets to good causes from
the income generated by the charge.
The Government has recently brought in the ban on microbeads
in cosmetic products that were putting hundreds of thousands of tiny pieces of
plastic into our drains every time we showered.
There is also the campaign to bring in a deposit scheme for
single use plastic bottles, and the recent announcement by the PM as part of
the 25 Year Environment Plan that the Government will be working with retailers
to introduce plastic-free supermarket aisles – a great move to cut down on some
of the frankly ridiculous amounts of plastic packaging we get on food purchases
such as fruit and vegetables.
These are all great initiatives and along with this, public
awareness of the plastic waste problem has never been higher. There are plenty
of grass-roots movements starting to look at how we as communities can address
the problem. Several originate in Cornwall, including the Refill initiative,
which sees businesses providing free water to encourage less use of single use
plastic bottles, the Final Straw group, which looks at eliminating plastic
straws from our hospitality sector, and the Plastic Free town movement, which
recently saw Penzance pledge to become the first plastic free town in the
country.
Members of Parliament, as community leaders, have our own
role to play in raising awareness, taking a lead and setting an example on this
important matter. That is why I am pleased to be working with Sky and Surfers
Against Sewage to bring forward the Plastic Free Parliament Campaign. Specifically,
this campaign is all about getting MPs to practise what many of us preach and sign
up to reduce the amount of plastic we use in our offices. I hope this will be
another step in the fight against plastic waste.
