Just one Green councillor makes a huge difference!

23 March 2018

Green Councillor Jonathan Essex is celebrating after Surrey County Council unanimously passed a motion to tackle the scourge of single-use-plastics and to adopt a strategy to end their use in Surrey.

The motion follows campaigns across the country to reduce the use of single-use plastics after programmes such as the BBC "Blue Planet II" series highlighted the damage they cause to oceans and marine life.

The amended motion, which was passed unanimously earlier this week, calls for:

• the development of a plastics use strategy by 2019
• reducing the sale of single-use plastic products such as bottles, cups, cutlery and drinking straws in Council buildings where reasonable
• calling on the government to eliminate single-use plastics ahead of its current 2042 target

Cllr Essex said:

"I am delighted that fellow county councillors have endorsed my call for Surrey to adopt a plastics-free strategy. We should be leading the way on this matter and I am pleased that we are determined to improve on the Government's 25 year target to eliminate single use plastics.

By working with partners, businesses and residents in Surrey, we can set an example of how to protect our rivers and countryside, and change the behaviours that have caused such damage across the world.

I will be pressing the County Council on this matter to make sure the strategy is completed and adopted as quickly as possible. I am confident that all county councillors in Surrey will join me in that task."

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