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Yehia El Nemer at Oasis in the Park Cafe with Cinzia Sarigu |
In the bag: Shoppers urged to ditch plastic that comes with a 1,000-year landfill life
HIGHBURY Barn is leading the way in the eco-stakes with a campaign aimed at getting shoppers and traders to stop using plastic bags.
Eight out of ten shoppers want to ditch plastic bags, according to a recent street survey in the area.
Campaigner Cinzia Sarigu, who lives in Highbury Grove, said: “Going plastic-bag free is the first step to re-educate ourselves in saving resources and taking care of our precious planet.
“We’re lucky in that Highbury is such a contained community. It’s already happening in some shops.”
Newington Green held a plastic bag-free week in July last year, but Highbury Barn aims for a more lasting campaign.
Yehia El Nemer, at Oasis Cafe in Highbury Fields, has never used plastic bags in the three years he has been trading there.
He said: “Especially in this economic climate, plastic bags are a waste of time, money and energy. The money we spend on packaging could be used to add value to products instead.”
In London, 1.6 billion plastic bags are handed out by shopkeepers each year. Most end up in landfill, where they can take up to 1,000 years to break down. Environmentalist Nicola Baird said: “It’s not just that plastic bag litter makes Highbury Barn look tatty. Plastic bags, just like the ones we sometimes unthinkingly ask for in the shops and then typically use just once for that 15-minute stroll home, are piling up environmental problems all round the world.”
Message in the Waves, a film showing how plastic bag waste damages the planet, is being shown at 3.30pm on Saturday, March 28, at Christ Church, Highbury Grove. |
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