Liberal Democrat Shadow Cabinet Member for Housing, Transport and Planning Councillor Dave Murphy will be proposing a motion at the next full meeting of Oldham Council (Wednesday 28 March) calling for Oldham to become a single use plastic-free Borough.

Councillor Murphy said: “300 million tons of new plastic is made across the world every year, around half of this is turned into billions of items, such as drinking straws, cups and utensils that are used once and discarded.  Much of this waste goes to landfill, more sadly still some of it ends up in our oceans.”

“I think all of us will have been shocked by the recent images on our televisions and on social media of the world’s oceans being smothered by discarded plastic and sea birds and mammals choking on this detritus,” added Councillor Murphy.

“In 2016, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation estimated that by weight there could be more plastic in our oceans than fish.  Columbia University has estimated that these plastics stay in our environment for up to 600 million years.  Imagine that an item you might use for six minutes polluting our environment for six hundred million years.  And it doesn’t lie dormant – plastic contaminates the food chain.  Plastic is consumed by fish and fish is consumed by us,” he stated.

“As human beings, let us use our supposedly higher intelligence to take collective responsibility for the stewardship of this planet and the plants and animals which inhabit it.  The Liberal Democrats believe passionately that one single thing that we can all do as part of this shared responsibility is to choose not to use and discard single-use plastic items, such as plastic drinking straws or picnic utensils, in our daily lives,” claimed Councillor Murphy.

The motion is being seconded by Liberal Democrat Councillor Garth Harkness.  He commented:

“I am proud that the Oldham Liberal Democrats are sponsoring this motion.  We have a long track record of championing many environmental concerns in the Council Chamber, including calling for the establishment of tree wardens and a woodland strategy, seeking protection for bees and pollinators, and calling for an end to the use of non-recyclable coffee cups.”

“Many other local authorities have chosen to ban the use of single-use plastic items in their workplaces and public buildings; the Liberal Democrats want Oldham Council to be part of that pack,” stated Councillor Harkness.  “If in adopting this policy, we can influence our social and business partners and the citizens of this Borough to also say No to single-use plastic then together we can make Oldham a single-use plastic free Borough by the end of the year.”

The Motion reads as follows:

Motion 1 – Making Oldham a ‘Single Use Plastic-Free’ Local Authority

Council notes that:

• The introduction of the 5p bag charge has already seen use of single-use plastic bags drop by 85%.
• However, most families still throw away about 40kg of plastic per year, which could otherwise be recycled.
• The amount of plastic waste generated annually in the UK is estimated to be nearly 5 million tonnes, which has a catastrophic effect on our environment, particularly our marine environment

Council welcomes the commitment of some major businesses to reduce their use of plastic packaging and encourages all local businesses to respond positively to the

Government’s recent call for evidence on reducing plastic waste.

However, Council recognises that it is only in eliminating single-use plastic materials that we can achieve a significant reduction in plastic waste.

Council therefore resolves to ask the Cabinet to:

• Develop a robust strategy to make Oldham a ‘single-use plastic-free’ authority by the end of 2018 and encourage the Borough’s institutions, businesses and citizens to adopt similar measures;
• End the sale and provision of single use plastic products such as bottles, cups, cutlery and drinking straws in council buildings, or council supported venues, wherever possible; promoting the use of non-plastic recyclable alternatives e.g. paper straws to ensure our venues remain accessible to those with additional needs.
• Encourage traders across the Borough to sell re-usable containers and invite customers to bring their own.
• Consider the merits and practicalities of introducing a ‘window sticker’ scheme to accredit local businesses that are committed to reducing plastic waste through, for example, offering free water bottle refills.
• Investigate the possibility of requiring pop-up food and drink vendors at council supported events to avoid single use plastics as a condition of their contract; with a view to phasing out all single use plastics at markets and events in the Borough by the end of 2018.
• Work with tenants in commercial properties owned by Oldham Council to encourage them to phase out single use plastic cups, bottles, cutlery and straws.