Sheffield City council have agreed to ban traders at city centre events from using single-use plastic from 1 April
This has come after environmental campaigners have spent several years pressuring the council to introduce the policy. This should aim to improve sustainability in events and reduce plastic waste.
The Sheffield Action on Plastic is a local environmental community organisation founded by Greg Hewitt. Greg has spent the past few years campaigning to stop single-use plastic, and Sheffield Action on plastic hosts various events to promote this.
Plastic cups are commonly used at events in the city centre; however, the next alternative of paper cups might not be much better, with the ideal shift being from recyclable to reusable. Paper cups are a step in the right direction, but not a solution.
Greg Hewitt said: “Usually you tend to see single-use plastic cups at outdoor events like markets, for example. So we’re trying to offer a kind of eco or green solution, which is to offer reusable cups that can be used, washed, and reused over and over again hundreds of times.”
“I’m not sure whether the ban will immediately lead to reusable cups being used. A lot of people might switch to paper cups instead…The problem with paper cups is that they’re still single-use and still create waste. Many of them also contain a plastic lining.”
The shift of people wanting to be more environmentally conscious isn’t just the campaigners, but also many people in Sheffield. The campaign hosts sustainable markets, and the last market at Victoria Hall had over 500 attendees.
This also signals that a lot of the public are behind this ban, and to keep Sheffield as green and eco-friendly as possible.
The next market will be at Victoria Hall on the 25th of April.
The campaign group runs a reusable cup hire scheme, which can be used for events and organisations in Sheffield. This allows them to be washed and reused multiple times, for pints, coffees, and wine.
With the 4th of April coming up, Sheffield Action on Plastic is excited about the Council’s decision, and this is a step in the right direction, but they believe there is still much more work that needs to be done.