As part of the national campaign, Plastic Free Communities, and supported by Duffield Parish Council, Plastic Free Duffield has been formed to reduce the amount of single use, throwaway plastics that create litter in the village and cause untold environmental damage elsewhere.

We need your help to do this! How?

Individual actions:

• Remember your refillable water bottle
• Take a reusable coffee cup and refuse single-use takeaway cups
• Refuse single-use packaging
• Resist a straw; straws suck!
• Refuse a single-use plastic bag and take your own
• Take your own cutlery or use sustainable alternatives
• Avoid single-use plastics in the bathroom
• Refuse single-use condiment sachets
• Do your own #CommunityCleanUp. Grab a handful of plastic pollution every time you go out!

Community Actions:

• Refill - Encourage local cafes, pubs and public spaces to make sure drinking water is readily available and remember to carry a reusable water bottle with you.
• Reduce - Discuss the use of single-use plastic in your favourite cafe and challenge them to reduce their use of it. Wooden stirrers and reusable coffee cups make immediate positive impact.
• Reuse - Remember to take your reusable bag each time you go shopping. Save yourself money and the environment in one action - win-win!
• Recycle - Make sure you recycle any single-use plastic bottles and containers you come into contact with. These can become new products! Don't waste plastic!
• Refuse - Share the impact straws can have on local wildlife with friends and family and tell them to refuse a straw when ordering a drink. If it is a must, there are plenty of reusable versions available to take with them.
• Plastic Free Kit - such as bamboo toothbrushes, or reusable travel cutlery - gift these to friends and family to inspire them to tackle their plastic footprint.
• Replace - Get your restaurant or takeaway to replace single-use sachets with refillable and reusable containers.
• Plastic Free Picnic - Don't let single-use plastics get in the way of fantastic food and company when out enjoying your favourite beach or park. Hold a #PlasticFreePicnic and invite friends to bring a dish (plastic-free of course!).

Whether it's holding a fundraising event, undertaking a litter pick in your own street or joining the campaign group there are lots of ways you can get involved. Why not email Dave Wells, the Plastic Free Duffield group organiser and local Borough Councillor if you would like to find out more about helping out with the campaign, or visit www.sas.org.uk to make a donation to the national charity.

Duffield Parish Council lends litter pickers to community-minded residents who would like to undertake litter picks in their own time, contact clerk@duffieldparishcouncil.gov.uk or visit the Parish Office at Cemetery Lodge, 43 Hazelwood Road, Duffield, during opening hours (Mon/Tues 10:30am-12:30 and Weds 2-4pm) to get hold of one.

The Parish Council is getting involved and has committed to:

• Supporting the journey to plastic-free community status, committing to plastic-free alternatives and plastic-free initiatives within the community.
• Leading by example by removing single-use plastic items in Council premises over time.
• Encouraging plastic-free initiatives, promoting the campaign and supporting events.
• Appointing a Parish Councillor - Councillor Vincent - to the Plastic-Free Community Steering Group.

Plastic Free Duffield is part of a national campaign, Plastic Free Communities, organised by the environmental charity SAS – Surfers Against Sewage.

Surfers against Sewage is a charity dedicated to the protection of oceans, waves, beaches and wildlife, which began as a response by the surfing community to raw sewage in the UK's seas and beaches. Marine plastic pollution, and specifically tackling society's throwaway, excessive or unnecessary plastic use is now Surfers against Sewage's top priority. The 'Plastic Free Community' initiative has now grown to over 600 Plastic Free Community groups throughout the UK. To find out more visit www.plasticfree.org.uk or Surfers Against Sewage (www.sas.org.uk)

Successes & Challenges – From SAS website:

• 98.5% of England's bathing waters passed the Bathing Water Directive's minimum standards in 2016, compared to what would have been only 27% in 1990 when we started campaigning on the sewage issue.
• Our supporters helped campaign for the plastic bag charge which has already taken out over 6 billion plastic bags from the environment!
• Throwaway plastic pollution is our new sewage. 12 million tonnes of marine litter and plastic enter the oceans every year.
• Our beach clean volunteer community is the biggest in the UK!
• Over 225,000 people have joined us in calling for a deposit return system to stop plastic bottle pollution.