Published: Wednesday, 20th February, 2008 11:30
Cash helps town be plastic bag free zone
By Susie Penman
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Jenny Agate is Selkirk's very own eco warrier and her campaign could see the town becoming the first in Scotland to be plastic bag free.
SELKIRK could be the first town in Scotland to go plastic-bag free.
A new scheme aims to rid the Burgh of non-biodegradable plastic bags and replace them with fair trade paper and/or cornstarch bags.
Jenna Agate, who first proposed the scheme to the town’s community council, said she was inspired by the town of Modbury in Devon, which became Britain’s first plastic-bag-free town in May 2007.
“I love my town and I love to walk my dog around it,” she said.
“And I hate the fact that there are always plastic bags flying in the trees, blowing in the streets, and washing about in the river.”
“I felt that we really could do something here. We can make a difference in our small way.”
And at the Eildon Area Committee meeting on Monday night, Selkirk Community Council was awarded a grant of £1,015, which along with funds raised by local businesses, will help purchase hundreds of fair trade, recycled cotton shopping bags advertising the town is plastic bag free.
The bags, which will come from Cornwall, are made in India and printed with vegetable dye.
Local primary schools are involved in designing promotional posters and the logo for the bags, which will be given away on the day of the scheme’s launch, April 4.
“I’m hoping that if we start doing it here, other towns will take it in stride,” Mrs Agate said. “It could grow to be the whole of Scotland. It would be wonderful.
“It’s a terrible substance that we just easily accept,” she said of plastic bags, adding that people are simply used to using them. “It wouldn’t take much to change that habit.”
Ms Agate , who lives at The Green in the town, said that while the response to the scheme was positive, the biggest obstacle to the project was the fact that some businesses in Selkirk have already purchased large quantities of plastic bags.
Large stores such as Somerfield and the Co-op has arranged to replace its plastic bags with cornstarch ones.
“They’ve made Selkirk priority in their Scottish stores,” she said.
“The Co-op has been fantastically supportive.”
“I think people here are concerned about their town and their environment,” she added.
Dr Lindsay Neil, vice-chairman of the Selkirk Community Council, said that when Mrs Agate them with her plan, they wholeheartedly supported her idea.
“Individuals were doing it on their own behalf but it’s the first time somebody’s tried to inaugurate a campaign to do this,” he said.
“Many people in Selkirk are very concerned about the wastage that goes on and the use of disposable items,” he added.
Dr Neil also said that while the scheme might not be 100 per cent successful at first because of amount of plastic bags already owned by some local businesses, there are many possible ways to recycle and reuse the bags.
“I dare say some people will follow our example,” he said.
“I think there’s a ground swell among most thinking people that we need to do something about our consumption of non-renewable items such as plastics.
“It’s got to be a much more widespread and determined campaign,” he added.
And in what could prove to be an ecological domino effect, other Borders towns such as Peebles, Innerleithen, and Melrose have expressed interested in the scheme.
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