Senior members of the Green Party call for much more action on single-use plastics during a recent visit to Stowmarket.
Green Party peer, Baroness Jenny Jones called for more urgent Government action to reduce and eliminate single-use plastics, still widely used for packaging and other purposes. Together with Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay she visited Bonitas Wholefoods where many alternatives to plastic are available. In addition, this family-led business offers hair, body, and cleaning products for refill, where customers bring their own containers and bags, as well as a wide range of plant-based foods.
Baroness Jones said:
"Refilling is certainly part of the way forward and it is encouraging that more shops are taking this approach, supplemented by the excellent mobile services also available locally."
Adrian and Jenny also visited other local projects where environmental progress is being made. Green group leader, Councillor Andy Mellen, spoke about the forthcoming electric buses, and Eco Futures activist Sharri McGarry showed examples of the group's signs across the town, urging motorists to turn off engines at traffic lights. Both these innovations were particularly welcomed by Baroness Jones who has recently introduce a Bill in the House of Lords for tough measures to reduce air pollution.
Finally, they visited the garden biodiversity exhibition ‘Every Garden Matters’ at the Food Museum and saw an example of support to local biodiversity through changes to grass verge management in the Cedars Park estate.
Adrian Ramsay, also local Green Party candidate for parliament, commented:
“It is heartening to see the range of environmental gains local Greens are racking up, even while still the opposition at the council. This needs to be combined with much stronger action by national government, such as forcing manufacturers to move away from single use plastics and providing more support to nature and rewilding projects.”
