THE Monmouth campaign against single use plastic has reached an important milestone with news that it has achieved Plastic Free Town accreditation from Surfers Against Sewage.

The achievement, which was the Monmouth action group’s first key target, will be celebrated at an awards ceremony later this month.

Accreditation from Surfers Against Sewage - the grass-roots movement tackling plastic pollution and protecting the UK’s coastline - requires a proportion of local businesses, schools, community organisations and public venues to have made changes to eliminate single-use plastics.

Like many across the country, the local campaign was inspired to ’make a difference’ by David Attenborough’s Blue Planet 2.

Supporters of the plastic free town principle initially came together at a Transition Monmouth meeting - and members of TM, Monmouth Litter Group and the town council are now among Plastic Free Monmouth’s main supporters.

Getting the backing of the town council was the first step towards accreditation.

The group launched its campaign at a public meeting at Shire Hall in May 2018, where more than 60 people attended, including children and teachers from local primary schools.

Following a talk from trans-Atlantic rower Rob Munslow, the attendees split into discussion groups themed around different areas - schools, businesses, community organisations, venues and so on.

A steering group was formed made up of Karin and Ian Chandler, Anna Hill, Dilly Boase and Kelly Jackson-Graham and working groups were set up to share best practice among schools and businesses.

In November, a free screening of the powerful documentary ’Albatross’ was staged at the Savoy, focusing on an environmental disaster on one of the remotest islands on Earth "where tens of thousands of baby albatrosses lie dead on the ground, their bodies filled with plastic".

"There is not one single action that will change the world - it’s a cumulative thing," said Ian Chandler. "Government and big business have a huge role to play but a lot can be achieved on a local level too.

"Lots of schools are very enthusiastic about getting involved in the campaign - and the children take the message back to their parents.

"The important thing is to spread the message. Once you reach people they are very receptive - they want to change things but often don’t know how. Sometimes it is made difficult for us, such as when takeaways only sell food in polystyrene containers. An important next step will be to encourage local food outlets to support our campaign.

"Looking ahead, we want buying single-use plastic to be seen as socially unacceptable as drink-driving. We want to increase the public profile of Plastic Free Monmouth, encourage everyone to take more steps to stop buying stuff in single-use plastic, and encourage more networking among businesses and groups to share best practice."

The next public meeting is on Tuesday 5th March (7:30pm) in the Robin Hood Inn - and everyone is welcome.

Meanwhile the group’s five top tips for reducing the use of disposable plastic are to: take re-usable coffee cups and water bottles when you go out; use shampoo bars and soap bars; get your milk delivered in glass bottles; avoid individually-wrapped snacks for children’s lunch boxes - buy big packs and separate into portions, or get the children to bake their own snacks; buy loose fruit and veg instead of pre-wrapped (better still, get locally grown veg delivered as a weekly veg box).