St Andrew’s Church Meeting on 19th September 2021 agreed to sign the Plastic Free Communities Pledge and become a Plastic Free Ally in Chesterfield. The Pledge asks us to:
- Work to remove at least three single-use plastic items from our day to day activities
- Commit to include our stance on single-use plastics in communications
- Raise awareness and support plastic free initiatives in the community
It fits with our Silver Eco-Church commitment, which involves not just what we do as a church, but encourages us to co-operate with others with the same aims.
The pledge also fits with the commitment made by East Midlands Synod in 2020:
“Synod encourages local churches to undertake systematic audits of church buildings and activities for example to eliminate single use plastics and other hard-to-recycle materials”
Although the pledge is made by the church, it carries through into our daily lives as individuals. We could review everything we consume and try to find alternatives to products supplied in plastic packaging: plastic milk bottles? plastic containers for take-away meals? plastic packaging of bread and cereals? plastic wrapped cheese? plastic bottles of cleaning materials? Once you start looking the list is endless.
Remember the three ‘Rs’: Reduce, Re-use, Re-cycle.
