Two of our team went to the Plastic Free Gathering in Birmingham and returned buzzing with ideas, inspiration and renewed purpose.  

The event brought together campaigners, educationalists, researchers and entrepreneurs from across the UK, all focused on the common aim of tackling plastic pollution

It was opened by Will McCallum co-Executive Director of Greenpeace UK whose speech set the tone for a day of powerful storytelling and practical action.

Waste Nott Director Andrea Snelling, pictured above, said: “What we came away with was the bigger role Waste Nott can play in the community and how we can expand our outreach. There are lots of people doing some amazing inspirational things and it would be good to be a part of that wider network.”

Keynote speaker Will McCallum talked about the recent global plastic treaty negotiations which failed to ratify an agreement. However, he said the UK government was actually one of the most ambitious voices there, arguing for a cap on plastic production.

Will urged attendees to keep pressure on MPs, talk to friends and neighbours and use their voices as citizens and consumers to spread the word about plastic reduction. He stressed the importance of doing what we can in our own lives, which gives us integrity when speaking to decision-makers.  

“Every little impact does matter, he said, “But as individuals, it’s basically impossible to give up plastic. The most important thing is to use your power as a citizen, as a voter, as a customer… That is where your real power lies in the fight to leave plastic behind.

“It’s speaking to your politicians, it’s speaking to companies, it’s talking to children … it’s talking to your neighbours. All the research suggests that the thing that persuades people, the thing that talks people down from that ledge of absolutism, is peer-to-peer conversations with somebody that they trust”.

Next up was Amy Meek, from Nottingham (pictured above), who, with her sister Ella set up Kids against Plastic, as well as a litter picking app. Amy also set up Plastic Clever Schools, a free, pupil-led tool for schools to use. Amy’s mum also spoke later in the day, going into more details about how schools can get involved.  

In fact there was strong Nottingham representation at the conference, which was organised by former Sherwood resident Greg Hewitt, who set up Sharing Sherwood and has since established plastic-free initiatives in Sheffield and Chesterfield.

Talks on education featured:

• Initiatives to use natural resources in school play  – including forest schools and the nature makers art workshop,
• Projects at Bournemouth University including refill station artwork, cup exchange schemes and research into ‘self-healing’ plastic,
• Climate ambassadors in schools empowering students to lead sustainability efforts.

Speakers from the business community included:

• Rina from SESI –our detergent supplier – who spoke about growing horizontally as a business
• Dale Campbell, creator of  plastic free deodorants
• Catherine Conway from Go unpackaged (https://gounpackaged.com/) has worked with supermarkets and Abel & Cole on instore refill and reuseable containers.
• Emma O’Neill from Surfers Against Sewage who highlighted their work with small/medium sized businesses, including a five-step toolkit and ‘plastic-free champion’ awards. Emma cited local grass roots action to break away from single use plastics with an aim for stopping its production for good.
• The party kit network provides a box of tableware for hire for children’s parties.

The perils of microplastics

Researcher Dr Rana Al-jaibachi shared some sobering statistics about the prevalence of microplastics – which are everywhere.  

• There are 16000 chemicals used in plastic production,  
• More than 4000 of these have no safety assessment available,
• 15 groups are of  greatest concern.

She argued that a focus on recycling enables a system of over production, with just nine per cent of plastics recycled globally, as the majority is burnt.  

Global perspectives and local action:

Other speakers included:

• Laura Smith from Unwaste.io who is working to get a fair deal for informal waste pickers in Mozambique. She explained how reprocessing factories often import virgin plastic because of lack of trust between pickers and buyers. Wastebase is trying to connect buyers and sellers of plastic waste.
• Miriam Adcock from Zero Waste Scotland talked about reuseable and refillable cups and has set up a scheme of ‘borrow cups’
• Natalie Fee from City to Sea whose organisation is sadly closing, but their refill app will hopefully live on.  

We left Birmingham feeling more connected, more motivated, and more determined to grow WasteNott’s role in the community. There’s a powerful network out there and we are proud to be part of it.