A model village Even in the smallest of places, people can make a huge difference. Newland, a tiny village in Gloucestershire, is a prime example
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Karen and Polly collect rubbish on their walks
mile and a half from the Welsh border, Newland is home to just 160 people. With its historical buildings and picturesque views of the Forest of Dean, it is the perfect setting for a conscious plasticfree community. Karen Davies, a retired solicitor, has lived in Newland for almost 30 years. She has always been environmentally aware and an avid recycler. Three years ago she became involved in litter picking in the Forest, and became aware of just how much plastic was part of her local environment. “A party of four of us had the lovely job of sorting through and washing all the litter picked in order to be displayed in a shop showing people how much has been left in the Forest over the years,” Karen explains. “We came across things like urine in plastic bottles, wrappers with sauce all over them, and even found a crisp packet which had on it a competition with a closing date sometime in the 1970s!”
An encouraging force
An average walk can fill her backpack
A plastic-free dinner in their village room
She decided this was an important issue to tackle in the area, and immediately started making changes to her everyday life. She stopped buying single-use products and started going to the local butcher’s and milkman to avoid buying food and drink wrapped in copious amounts of plastic. Her butcher is now encouraging other customers to reduce their use and is looking into paper alternatives for plastic packaging. Karen has even signed up to a scheme with TerraCycle, a company which aims to help recycle hard-to-recycle material such as black plastic. Through the scheme, she helps to dispose of plastic toothbrushes and toothpaste tubes from people in the village. To encourage the people of Newland to get involved in reducing their plastic footprint, she held a talk in the local village room last autumn. While the turnout may not seem huge to city dwellers (only around 10-15 people turned up), word of mouth was the ultimate driving force.
Stand out from the crowd “I explained to people what the problem was and showed them how they could avoid it. Since then people have started talking, and I think they’re all becoming a little bit more aware, particularly with things like the term ‘aspirational recycler’,” says Karen. There’s a real sense of community with Newland. The village room has an antiplastic ethos, and when they hold events such as lunches and Friday night drinks there, everyone brings their own plates, cutlery and glassware rather than spending money on paper plates and plastic cups. Karen also buys 25 litre containers of washing-up liquid and laundry detergent from a local whole food co-op, and on a regular basis people turn up at her door to top up their own bottles. She does this on a non-profit basis, which helps people in the village save money and makes a significant reduction to plastic use in many Newland households.
Reaching out to the rest
It’s not just Newland that is focusing on the plastic problem in and around Gloucestershire. Karen does more work within the Forest of Dean itself to help tackle the issue. “I’ve joined a panel which is composed of members of the public and councillors which is looking into rubbish disposal and recycling. The aim is to get us recycling better, and also to help people cut down on their plastic,” explains Karen. The initiative is calling on takeaway outlets in neighbouring market town Coleford to curb its use of polystyrene containers, as well as educating the area surrounding the Forest about how local authorities are disposing and recycling plastic bottles. Like many plastic-free pioneers, Karen credits the village’s change in opinion with the airing of Blue Planet II and its portrayal of the global plastic effect. “At one stage I think I was being seen as a bit of a weirdo,” she laughs. “But then Blue Planet II happened. I’m sure there are people who are still sceptical, and it is difficult. Somebody came to my meeting who was quite questioning, raising points that things like black plastic are being used in road resurfacing. But what happens when that surface deteriorates? It all goes back to my solution - just don’t use it.”
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