The ‘Say No to Plastics’ scheme was launched at our General Meeting in March. One thousand organic cotton bags were given out, printed with the Village Green Teams logo on one side and our sponsor’s, Dedham Vale AONB and Stour Valley Project Sustainable Development Fund, on the other. Inside the bags were information leaflets to persuade people to give up plastic bags. The campaign was a great success, thanks to the efforts of the participating shops and farms: Park Street Stores & Post Office in Stoke by Nayland, Lower Dairy Farm in Little Horkesley, Scotland Place Farm in Stoke by Nayland, Polstead Community Shop, Assington Farm Shop, and Brewery Farm Shop, Polstead Tye, and to Stoke by Nayland CEVC Primary school and our local churches, who also gave out bags.

The shops also switched to compostable cornstarch bags for a month, and reported that use of disposable bags had fallen considerably. The campaign was reported in the Suffolk Free Press and got a mention on Radio Suffolk.

We hope that everyone who wanted a bag was able to get one. Please, please, use your cotton bag. It often seems like we can’t do much, but this is a small change that can really add up to a big difference. One person in the U.K. uses between 200 and 300 plastic bags a year. So, if everyone just in our three small villages gave up plastic bags, that would make about nine hundred thousand less plastic bags in one year. And if you use your cotton bag for shopping at your local shops and farms, you are doing your bit for the environment twice over!