Press ReleaseWho would have suspected that the historic market town of Aylsham was a hot bed of environmental activism? It’s not quite at the point where people hiss if you walk down the street with a plastic bag, but there is a growing movement to resign the plastic bag to the history archives, as Aylsham steps forward to be Norfolk’s first plastic bag free town.
The town has always supported an amazing range of shops and businesses, including three butchers, two farmers markets each month, a twice weekly market and a good range of places to eat and drink. Now those businesses are coming together to take a further step forward, the banning of the plastic bag.
When does the big switch happen? Saturday 3rd May is the key date, after which customers are asked to bring their own shopping bags or pay for an environmentally friendly bag with their shopping.
Over 70 businesses have had the foresight to get involved with the scheme, from pharmacies to charity shops, from fish and chip shops to plant nurseries. Other businesses are preparing to join.
The working group, who developed the scheme and set the deadline of 3rd May, knew that there would always be people who didn’t like the idea. So it was decided that it was better to act with the vast majority than wait for a few who may never join. The working group includes Norfolk County Council, Broadland District Council, Aylsham Town Council, Aylsham Cittaslow, Aylsham Traders, the Aylsham Partnership and representatives from all over the town.
Budgens, who openly admit that in the past they probably gave out as many plastic bags as the rest of the traders put together, have already moved to paper bags for their fruit and veg, which residents are encouraged to compost. They’ve also removed the free plastic bags from the tills and further steps are on their way.
All three butchers in the town, G. F. White, Granville C Bond and J. S. Coxford, have signed up to the scheme. Crawford of G. F. White Butchers said, “I can’t give away a free plastic bag now, customers all come armed with their shopping bags.”
Norfolk County Council have arranged for every household in the town to have the opportunity to receive a free shopping bag, which they can pickup from the Market Place on Saturday 3rd May and Saturday 17th May. The designs of the bag were drawn by children at the Bure Valley School in Aylsham.
There will also be plastic bag amnesty bins around the town centre, where plastic bags can be placed and then sent off to be recycled. Plastic bag recycling bins will be in the town centre from Sat 26th April to Sat 24th May. Broadland District Council are arranging these.
Both Norfolk County Council and Broadland District Council are hoping that the experience of Aylsham becoming Plastic Bag FREE will help other towns make the transition.
Aylsham has its own website www.aylshamplasticbagfree.co.uk where the process of becoming plastic bag free has been documented and there are questions and answers for traders and customers. Traders can find suppliers of environmentally friendly bags on there, along with videos to help train staff.
As 3rd May draws near, the public becomes more aware, supporting businesses show their support with posters in their windows and Aylsham gets ready to take another historic step in it’s long and distinguished history.
End of Press Release
For more information on the Aylsham Plastic Bag FREE scheme, please contact:
Jason Borthwick
Aylsham Plastic Bag Free
Tel: 07776 254019
Email: enquiries@aylshamplasticbagfree.co.uk
Website: www.aylshamplasticbagfree.co.uk
Participating traders welcome press and film crews . If you are interested in visiting then town then please contact Jason, who will be happy to find interviewees, both customers and traders.
Traders who have signed up to the scheme to date include:
A & M Carpets, White Hart Street
Abbotts Murdock Opticians, Cawston Road
Alleycuts, Red Lion Street
Aylsham Antiques, Cawston Road
Aylsham Computers, Red Lion Street
Aylsham Country Market (Fridays in the Town Hall)
Aylsham Dry Cleaners, Red Lion Street
Aylsham Fun Barns, Henry Page Road
Aylsham Manor, Norwich Road
Aylsham Post Office, Hungate Street
Aylsham Windows and Conservatories, Aylsham Trading Estate
Black Sheep Ltd (Clothing), Blickling Road
Break Charity Shop, Market Place
Budgens Aylsham, Norwich Road
Bure Valley Plant, Brampton
Burebank Books, Red Lion Street
Celebrations (Cards), Market Place
Concept Carpets & Blinds
Cooks of Cawston Electrical Ltd, Dunkirk
Crystal Kindness (Natural Therapies), Red Lion Street
Doggie-dating.co.uk
Dunkirk Garage, Dunkirk
Earthly Ideas
Eastons Coaches, Stratton Strawless
Eclipse Hair Studio, Red Lion Street
Edward Jones, Norwich Road
Exquisite (Hairdressers), Red Lion Street
F C Gardner & Co, Red Lion Street
Food Lovers, Blickling Road
G. F. White Traditional Butchers, Red Lion Street
Get a Head Gardener
Gottersons Fish Bar, Cawston Road
Granville C Bond (Butcher and Fishmonger), Red Lion Street
Hansells Solicitors, Norwich Road
Harvey World Travel, Red Lion Street
Heatcraft Anglia Ltd, Burgh Road
J B Postle (Electricals), Market Place
J Christian (Jewellers), Red Lion Street
J. S. Coxford (Butchers), Market Place
JF & VA Newman (Photographers), Blofields Loke
Koffies Coffee Shop, Cawston Road
Lavenders Blue (Florist), Red Lion Street
Le Bon Bon (Sweet Shop), Red Lion Street
Lloyds Pharmacy, Market Place
M F Barnwell & Sons (Newsagents), Market Place
Nikki Nelson Opticians, Burgh Road
NPS Glazing Systems Ltd, Buxton
Pampered Pets, Red Lion Street
Porkies (Sandwiches), Red Lion Street
Richard Anders-Dungar Architectural Technologist
Richard Hair Design, Blofields Loke
Shoe Box, Blofields Loke
Simply "16" (Restaurant), Market Place
Sowerbys Estate Agents, Red Lion Street
St Jude's Gallery, Red Lion Street
Still Waters Beauty Therapy, Red Lion Street
The Bakehouse, Market Place
The Business Unisex Hair Salon, Red Lion Street
The Daisy Chain (Florist), Red Lion Street
The Little Clothes Shop, Red Lion Street
The Old Pump House, Holman Road
The Old Tea Rooms & Penny's from Heaven Bistro, Red Lion Street
The Plough Inn, Marsham
The Shoe Studio, Red Lion Street
Tops Group Limited (Estate Agents), Cawston Road
Visage Beauty Clinic, Blofields Loke
W G Oakes, Hungate Street Veterinary Surgery
Wagtails Petshop, Blofields Loke
Wolterton & Mannington Hall
Woodgate Nursery, Cawston Road
Plastic Bag Facts
An estimated 17 billion plastic bags are given out annually in the UK equating to about 280 bags per person with 200 million of them ending up as litter on our beaches, streets, and parks. We only manage to recycle one in every twenty of them on average and the rest can take anywhere between 500 to 1000 years to decompose. So, there really is no such thing as ‘throwing away’ a plastic bag. It simply means you don’t have to view it on a daily basis and that it is somewhere else on this planet.
The plastics industry is responsible for 8% of global oil consumption. This process of using the earth’s natural resources to produce items that are often used only once and then discarded is not sustainable and can’t continue indefinitely.
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