DURING the full council meeting on Wednesday, September 5, Holsworthy town councillors discussed the pros and cons of a new ‘plastic free town’ project.

Cllrs Ken Watson and John Saunders had, prior to the meeting, looked into the schemes already in place around Devon and in neighbouring Bude and were keen to get feedback from the council.

Town clerk Vanessa Saunders began discussions: “There has been a lot about this in the local press recently. Other towns like Totnes, Penzance, Bideford etc are doing it and we as a town council have been looking to do what we can but we wondered if this could become a town-wide project?”

She suggested they vote on whether the town council would be interested in taking on the project with the proviso that Cllrs Watson and Saunders look into it in more depth. The two councillors would go away and bring back their findings to the finance and general purposes committee where costs would be analysed before being brought to full council.

Cllr Watson said: “It is all about changing habits. There are simple things we can all do to reduce the amount of plastic we use.”

He made an example of the mayor: “You see here; I have a reusable water bottle whereas the mayor has opted for this disposal bottle from the shop. A simple change from these throw away plastic items to reusable ones can make all the difference.

“When you look up ‘plastic free’ there is a lot of financial help out there for towns becoming ‘plastic free’.”

He added: “I know we have got our hands full at the moment with projects but this could be the next project for us to get our teeth stuck into.”

Cllr Saunders said there was a number of retailers out there already creating plastic free items that were aimed at the catering trade: “In Westward Ho! there is a business making containers that are not plastic, as well as things like cutlery. It is a bit more expensive and a bit more research needs to be done before we bring it to full council but as a project I am happy to support it.”

However, mayor Jon Hutchings felt there would be resistance from local businesses. He said: “I am not against this but I can foresee there will be kick back from people in my trade [catering]. You can’t put prices up in a small town like this, it isn’t feasible for many — if they have to spend more on containers the price of their fish and chips, for example, will have to go up and their customers will complain.”

Mrs Saunders said it wasn’t just about non-plastic containers but about an increase in recycling. She suggested they could contact Torridge District Council to ask if recycling bins could be placed in the park. But Cllr Hutchings said the recycling issue for businesses was another hurdle. “If they want us to recycle then Torridge [District Council] shouldn’t charge to take recycling from businesses — we can’t all afford to pay it and it then ends up in a skip, sent to landfill.”

Fellow businesses owner Cllr Sam Parkinson agreed, adding: “The little people are getting the blame when it is the producers who are creating and using all this plastic.”

Deputy mayor Cllr Colin Punter said: “Shouldn’t we be stopping these big distributors selling plastic packaging? Stop it at the source.”

Mrs Saunders said Morrisons had already swapped plastic bags for paper ones but reminded the council not to run before it could walk.

Devon County Councillor Barry Parsons said it had been a healthy discussion and he thought it was commendable that the town council was discussing the use of plastics, but brought them back to Cllr Watson’s earlier remark that the council ‘already have a lot on their plate’. He said: “I was hoping you would, but we haven’t spoken about the viaduct yet. That will be a big project and I am just mindful of your capacity to deliver all these large projects.

“This isn’t a big town, I don’t want to see small businesses suffer because of any changes — I would just add that this needs to be managed very carefully. But, I think this has been a healthy discussion and you are right, something does need to be done — when you look at the situation in our seas, it really is frightening!”

It was agreed that Cllrs Watson and Saunders with the help of the town clerk would go away and bring their findings back to the council so a more informed discussion could be held.