A bag is for life – not just today’s shopping

To mark National Recycle Week Basingstoke residents are invited to swap their single use plastic bags for a reusable alternative in a ‘Plastic Bag Amnesty’.

Teams from Basingstoke Borough Council and Veolia Environmental Services will be at Basingstoke Station on Thursday 25th June 2-5pm for shoppers to bring their carrier bags and make the swap for a sustainable and reusable cotton tote bag. The event aims to highlight how each of us can make a difference by making small changes to our shopping habits, once all the plastic bags have been collected they will be taken away to be recycled.

Joanna Dixon, Communications Officer for Veolia Environmental Services commented, ”As a partner in Project Integra, Hampshire’s progressive waste partnership, we are committed to increasing recycling within Hampshire, and by swapping plastic bags for a cotton alternative it can help to reduce the number of bags thrown away overall. Remember – a bag is for life, not just today’s shopping”.

Cabinet Member for Recycling and Climate Change, Cllr Elaine Still said: “We are delighted to be working with Veolia on the plastic bag amnesty and we are extremely grateful for the kind donation of the reusable shopping bags.

“This event at Basingstoke train station is one of six recycling roadshows the borough council is staging as part of Recycle Week. This year’s theme aims to encourage people to go greener and cut back on the waste we all produce, and using reusable bags instead of plastic bags is a key part of this.”

The ‘Plastic Bag Amnesty’ initiative is just one of a number of activities which are taking place across the county to encourage residents to think about how they can recycle more and easy ways to minimise the amount of waste created overall. Project Integra’s Recycle for Hampshire campaign team will also be touring schools across the county undertaking recycling activities with children to highlight the importance of recycling. 

Contacts

For more information please contact:
Veolia Environmental Services:
Keely Gallagher
0203 567 2918 or 07887 942 754
[email protected]   
Or visit www.veoliaenvironmentalservices.co.uk. You can also follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/VeoliaUK.