Monthly talk: Vanessa Ryley – Let’s talk about rubbish
At our June meeting, we welcomed Vanessa Ryley, a founder member in 2018 of Dawlish Against Plastic. This is a community group which encourages people and businesses to reduce single-use plastic products and packaging, and also to increase recycling of plastic and other materials.
Vanessa told us how she first started to be involved in campaigning on these issues; she was walking on the beach and realised that in the seaweed washed up on the sand was an enormous amount of rubbish, much of which was plastic.
Dawlish Against Plastic does a great deal of work in our community to raise awareness about the effects of plastic, and to learn about the alternatives to using plastic in our everyday lives. The group works with schools to educate children, organises volunteers to undertake monthly beach cleans and litter picking in the town, and uses every opportunity to campaign in the community. The main messages can be summed up with these words:
- Reduce
- Reuse
- Recycle
A major focus of campaigning is the use of ‘single use plastic’. They are very concerned about the prevalence of so-called ‘environmentally friendly’ disposable cups sold in cafes, take away businesses, convenience stores and supermarkets. In Dawlish alone there are over 20 businesses which sell drinks in these containers. While it is often stated that these cups are recyclable, the reality is that overwhelmingly they are not truly recyclable, and most of them end up in landfill, not least because businesses which use them make little effort to collect them for recycling.
The impact of plastic on our environment is wide ranging and cannot be understated. 10% of all oil production goes towards making plastic with consequences for global carbon emissions. The unpleasant sight of plastic and other litter can be seen almost everywhere, impacting on the quality of our lives but also doing untold harm to wildlife, especially in our seas. One very clear message is that if the plastic is on our streets today, it is in our rivers tomorrow, and in our oceans for ever. The current United Nations Ocean Conference is trying to address this issue, as well as many others. We should be reminded of David Attenborough’s powerful statement: ‘if we save the sea, we save the world’.
Vanessa is clear that we are all able to make a difference by being much more thoughtful and careful in how we dispose of our own rubbish. Devon’s record on recycling is actually better than the national average but there remains much more that we can all do to improve the situation. 41% of all material in our black bins could be recycled, including vast amounts of food which is often thrown in a black bin inside its plastic packaging. We can all use the food waste bins provided by the council but so many people appear not to be prepared to take the trouble to separate this out. Devon does not now have any landfill provision and has made a commitment instead to incinerate waste to generate electricity. The impressive Exeter Energy Recovery Facility at Marsh Barton is where most of our black bin waste is taken.
While action by governments and large businesses is vital, we are all able to make a contribution in our everyday lives. We can be more thoughtful in how we shop; we can try to repair products rather than throw them away and replace them; we can choose to buy products which use genuinely recyclable packaging; we can use the recycling schemes which are provided – and save our council very large sums of money to the benefit of everyone.
If you want to know more about these issues, these websites will provide you with useful information:
For Teignbridge Council’s services www.teignbridge.gov.uk/recycling and www.teignbridge.gov.uk/foodwaste
For information on Community Action Groups which take action around waste and reuse locally www.cagdevon.org.uk
There is a scheme to reward customers who use reusable cups, at Woody’s Café on Queen Street, Ryder’s Bakery on the Strand, and the Local Scoop on Piermont Place.
If you would like to contact Dawlish Against Plastic directly, email dawlish.against.plastic@gmail.com
The speaker at our next meeting will be writer Rosemary Griggs who will be giving us ‘An Audience with the Lady Katherine’. She will invite us to step back in time and journey to Tudor Devon with Katherine Champernowne. Dressed in full sixteenth-century costume, Rosemary will bring Katherine to life, allowing her to share stories about her life in Tudor Devon. Prepare to be amazed as she also reveals the intricate details of the clothing worn by affluent women in the sixteenth century.
John Vick