West Norfolk Council working group to tackle issues over plastics

Council chiefs are setting up an informal working group to discuss issues over single use plastics.

Officials said group members will look into how single use plastics are used in West Norfolk, while discussing ways to recycle, reuse or repurpose the material.

Members of West Norfolk Council’s environment and community panel agreed to set up the group during a meeting at Lynn town hall on Tuesday.

Refuse and recycling manager, Barry Brandford said residents need to choose their plastics wisely because “not all plastics are bad”.

He said: “Single use plastics have been a concern for many after watching David Attenborough’s Blue Planet.

“Since then, there has been a lot of discussion in the media, locally, nationally and internationally about what we should do about plastics, particularly single use plastics.”

Mr Brandford presented panel members with examples of “good and bad” plastics, saying milk containers are practical but wrapping over swede and cabbages is not.

“Firstly, plastics are actually a highly useful material that enables us to live our lives with less environmental impact at times, and significantly greater convenience,” said Mr Brandford.

“The plastic toothpaste tube is a single use plastic but compared to buying your toothpaste in a paper bag, this is so much better.

“Plastic milk bottles fit together nicely, the glass one is spherical and they don’t fit together very well. They are actually quite heavy.

“Although the glass ones are ultimately reuseable there are a lot of complaints over dirty milk bottles.

“The plastic ones are so much lighter and therefore reduces transport costs, therefore the environmental impact of transporting milk around.”

He explained to panel members that the solution is not as simple as banning one specific item, such as straws.

He said some residents need straws in order to allow them to drink, such as people with Parkinson’s.

But instead of always putting straws in people’s drinks, he says restaurants, pubs and cafés could hand them out on request.

Chairman Colin Sampson said: “I am a bit shell-shocked at just how big a can of worms this issue is, but we have a solution.

“Our recommendation is the we, the panel, establish an informal working group to look at issues in more depth and report back to the panel on completion of the work.”