Glasgow is a port city in Scotland’s western Lowlands; it’s well-known for its Victorian and art nouveau architecture. Now the city is joining others in phasing out single-use plastics by 2022, with the ultimate goal of becoming free of all unnecessary plastic by 2030.
Earlier this year, a public consultation on plastic reduction received more than 1,500 individual responses and provided a significant amount of support to reduce single-use plastic consumption.
Anna Richardson, Glasgow convener for carbon reduction and sustainability, said:
Plastic has become an ever-present feature of modern life, and it has any number of vital applications. It’s important we do not demonize plastic. Plastic clearly has its place, but aiming to end the unnecessary use of plastic will have a significant positive impact on the environment. There is already a huge amount of scope for our habits to change, and technology is evolving so quickly that our norms will be transformed in the years ahead.
Concerns over the impact plastic is having on the natural environment have led the council’s city administration committee to approve the plans to become plastic-free. To reduce the significant amount of plastic used across the city, a “plastics reduction strategy” has set out a 22-point action plan.
The strategy’s long-term objective is to end the use of avoidable plastic or to use an alternative re-usable version of the item. The highlighted points of the initial action plan are listed below:
- A probability study on a city-wide ban of particular single-use plastic items.
- Making legislation stricter on single-use plastics, such as plastic packaging and plastic bags.
- Developing the first plastic-free shopping zone in Glasgow.
- Extending the amount of free top-up taps for refilling reusable water bottles.
- Supporting projects that clean plastic waste from the city’s waterways.
- Exploring the possibility of the first plastic-free school in the town.
Some other cities and even islands have recently banned single-use plastics, including Indonesia, China, and Bali. Now, Glasgow can join that positive list towards a better future.
