A GROUP of people in Camelford are taking a stand against plastic, and are encouraging more local people to get involved.

From a casual conversation on the Facebook page, Love Camelford, a group has now emerged to tackle plastic and litter in the town. This follows on from various environmental groups and organisations in Bude making increasingly more appearances in the news and leading the way in educating and preventing single use plastics. BBC’s Blue Planet II, presented by David Attenborough, has also had a massive impact on the overall perception of plastics and what they can do to marine life and the world’s oceans.

After a link to a news story about coastal organisations in Devon and Cornwall had been posted to Love Camelford, the conversation started. One member of the page, Clare Monson, stated that Camelford should try and take action against plastic waste in their own area, suggesting that a group of people could get together to work out the first few steps towards making this a possibility. Another member, Sarah Tweedie, said: “Even if we don’t make total ‘plastic free’ status, we can make ourselves more aware of our own plastic footprint.”

Town councillor, Aaron Dawe, also got involved in the discussion, adding that ‘anything that can encourage people to take responsibility as a consumer has to be encouraged, a great idea’.

Clare, Sarah and Camelford town councillor Claire Hewlett have met to discuss the next steps, and are now looking for more willing people in Camelford to get involved with an aim to reduce the amount of plastic and litter found in the town.

Since their meeting, the ladies have set up a Facebook page, Plastic Free Camelford, in an aim to make people aware of their aims, which includes eventually achieving the status of being ‘plastic free’, and encouraging local people and businesses to reduce their consumption of single use plastics.

To find out more and keep up to date with what the team is getting up to, like the Facebook page, Plastic Free Camelford.