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Wimbledon Park first to go plastic bag free
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| Wimbledon Park's gone plastic bag-free |
Wimbledon Park has become the first plastic bag free area in London with the launch of Sustainable Merton's Bag for Better Lives initiative.
Local traders and volunteers have knocked on the door of all 3,000 households in the borough, distributing free re-usable cotton bags to replace the harmful plastic bags.
And after a positive response from the launch on Friday, Sustainable Merton and Merton Council is looking into expanding the project through Mitcham and Wimbledon town centres in a push to make the whole borough plastic bag-free.
"This has been such an exciting time and completley exceeded all expectations," said Mariana Cervantes-Burchell, the project coordinator.
"When I first suggested the idea there wasn't much talk about plastic bags, but all of a sudden it's become a hugley important environmental issue.
"As the project becomes more visible, a lot more people are going to start thinking about recycling and green issues."
Up until now, 9,000 plastic bags were handed out in Wimbledon Park a week. But if the scheme is a success, organisers anticipate close to 250,000 fewer bags will be used each year.
Not only will this save traders £8,000 to £12,000 a year, but it will help reduce the capital's use of 1.6billion bags a year, producing 29,000 tonnes of CO2 - equivalent to the emmisions from more than 10,000 cars a year.
The Co-Operative in Wimbledon Park has funded the production of 3,000 cotton bags distributed to residents.
Store manager Vishnu Ganeshacumar said: "We really want to encourage people into this. Because it is such a new thing some people are going to find it difficult.
"But they can see that, along with a lot of other local businesses, we are completely commited to going plastic-bag free."
Tom Walsh from Sustainable Merton added: "This is just the tip of the iceberg. It's quite amazing how little support you need to provide someone for them to feel emboldened and confident enough to embrace a sustainable future."
4:03pm Wednesday 30th April 2008
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