THIS month, Upper Hunter Shire Council is doing its part to be part of the solution to plastic pollution.
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They are encouraging everyone to reduce plastic waste by joining the initiative 'Plastic Free July' and have organised a number of local workshops on kicking the plastic habit.
Council's Sustainability and Environment Manager Melinda Hale sees first hand the enormous amounts of plastic waste that ends up in Upper Hunter landfills.
"A whopping 91 per cent of plastic used in the community is not recycled," she said.
"The best way to reduce the amount of plastic in our environment is to refuse it in the first place."
Ms Hale said plastics have been mass produced for the past six decades and have gone from being mostly durable, reusable items, to widespread use as disposable single-use plastic items that mostly end up in landfill or as litter.
"They are mostly made from non-renewable fossil fuels and often produced a long way from use," she said.
"Plastics eventually break up into smaller pieces that can remain in the environment for hundreds of years with serious impacts on animal and human health. It is estimated that the average person consumes 70,000 microplastics every year.
"We learned to take our own bags shopping. The next simple step is reducing single-use plastics such as food and beverage containers and packaging."
Kicking the Plastic Habit and Wax Wrap Workshops:
Ms Hale is holding Kicking the Plastic Habit and Wax Wraps workshops in Scone during July.
Everyone is encouraged to attend from 5pm to 8pm on Thursday July 11 2019 or Tuesday July 23 2019 at the Council Administration Centre, 135 Liverpool Street Scone.
Learn about the alternatives to plastic and where to source them, which plastics can be recycled, composted or end up in landfill, and finish with participants making their own wax wraps for use at home.
Tickets are $10 and must be purchased via Trybooking on the following links. Supper and refreshments are included.
11/7/19 - https://www.trybooking.com/BDNOD
23/7/19 - https://www.trybooking.com/BDNPA