Ban and replacement of plastic packaging

From "Draft Borough Plan Priorities"

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My idea is a public campaign to remove single-use plastic from Brent's business models, particularly in the food industry, and replacing it with compostable packaging. In other words, a Brent-wide necessity for compostable packaging.

This idea involves a research phase, marketing phase, a networking phase, and an execution phase.

Research is carried out on the best, most local Compostable Packaging companies, and who best to partner up local businesses with them. A business plan for transitioning into new partnerships with their new packaging provider would be drawn up.
Posters and PR is composed for a date by which the phase out would be complete.
Local businesses are put in touch with the new providers, with contracts fit-for-renewal, are put in place, to safeguard this deal going forward.

Using the right spin, this could be something business owners, students, and civilians could actively be excited and aware about.

This should be a high priority of the council because:

It is a safe guarding issue against Climate disaster and pollution.
Plastic packaging is wasteful and reckless, and easy to replace.
It brings an opportunity to partner local UK businesses.
Compostable packages is conducive to a healthy environment. It IS the future. This will happen eventually, due to scarcity of resources or controlled implementation.
To consciously do this, means compostable products can be vetted, and large-scale business demand could yield a cost effective relationship for both parties.
It will be a trailblazing step in the greater London constituencies.
It mitigates toxic waste, by removing the process of plastic destruction later down the line.

If there are any areas or priorities missing and why they are important to include / address.

A project likened to this was tried with very short term goals in mind in the past, according to the council. This shows that there is an interest, however the approach was not thought through. There was not long term planning involved, which can be easily rectified.
The culture of using takeaway food will not change, but we can make it such that it doesn't need to!

What is important to you / your local area and whether you think the priorities cover / address this or not (and if not, how it should address this)

Climate action is the most important issue of our time. It needs all of our attention. This very simple step can help literally hundreds of thousands of people have less of a carbon footprint, and marginalises the pollution Brent.
Climate action needs to be taken seriously. It has a direct impact on our daily live, and cataclysmic impacts on our lives long term. This is a simple initiative that is win win for business owners, and consumers.
It will enable new marketing ploys for ALL businesses involved. Consumers care about this issue.
We are obligated to take climate action.

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Profile of Sarah Tomlin

Posted by:Sarah Tomlin

3 years ago

Great proposal! I also think we need a public education campaign about the different types of plastic and which ones are accepted by Brent recycling. I cannot find this information anywhere online so assume that only the most widely recycled types (1 and 2) are accepted.

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Profile of Ruth Bradshaw

Posted by:Ruth Bradshaw

3 years ago

Excellent idea. The most environmentally-friendly packaging is made of paper or cardboard. many companies, such as Primark, are already using paper carrier-bags for their products. For heavy products such as food, it should be illegal for shops to supply single-use plastic bags or even the so-called "bags for life". the shops should only be allowed to supply cotton tote-bags, or other bags that will be used many times such as the Sainsbury's "Reliabag". When I visited Kenya, several years ago, there was already a law there which banned the single-use plastic bags. At the checkout in a supermarket, the assistants would re-pack a customers purchases into cardboard boxes, in which the shop had previously received its supplies, and the customers would put the boxes straight into their cars. People who did not want their purchases packed into boxes could buy reusable strong shopping-bags instead. Other customers told me that they had seen similar laws in Rwanda and Jamaica. Some of the UK's ex-colonies are well ahead of the UK in banning single-use plastic packaging. Brent should not only ban single-use plastic bags in the borough, but should also campaign for the Government to ban single-use plastic bags nationwide. Each of us should write to our constituency MP to ask the MP to propose this in Parliament.