Anti-Plastic Aberporth Welcomes Bywaters Beach Cleaners

Recently, Bywaters organised a beach clean in the environmentally-conscious town of Aberporth in Wales. The day was a huge success, with the inhabitants of Aberporth telling our staff everything they have been doing to make their town more sustainable, and everyone pulling together to clean up waste from the shoreline.

Aberporth’s Fight Against Single-Use Plastics

The former Fishing village of Aberporth, with a population of 1,100, welcomed Bywaters last week, as we ventured down to the west coast of Ceredigion to support their crusade against single use plastic products.

The sustainability initiative has been adopted by plenty of local establishments – such as the village store preferring to sell milk in glass bottles, and the local pub providing paper drinking straws over the detrimental plastic option.

A Campaign Run by the Community

Aberporth’s campaign against single-use plastics is being led by local resident Gail Tudor, who took part in a fact-finding tour of the British coastline to see the effect discarded plastics were having on marine life and the shore earlier this year.

Here’s what Mrs tutor had to say to BBC News about the issue:

“I live by the sea and I want to protect the sea and keep it clean and protect the wildlife. There is so much plastic in the sea and on the beaches and when it breaks down into micro-plastics it can get into our food chain.

“We are not going to get rid of plastic altogether. Plastic does have some uses, but what we are looking to do is get rid of single-use plastic such as straws and coffee cups.”

Bywaters Cleans Aberporth’s Beach with the Locals

Throughout our visit, Bywaters staff visited the coast line to help clear our shores of any debris and rubbish. In comparison to our previous beach cleans the welsh coastal village conjured up an effortless job for our team who came home with very empty bin liners – proof that Apberporth’s approach is working.

Bywaters organises regular beach cleans with our clients through our Green Gurus, but this event was one of our favourites because of the small amount of contamination already present on the shoreline.

Huge Strides Made by Aberporth Businesses

To find out more about Aberporth’s reduction in single-use plastics (a cause also close to Bywaters’ heart) we ventured to the local pub, The Ship.

The staff at The Ship have have already rid their premises of plastic straws, condiment sachets, and milk containers – replacing them with sustainable alternatives.

Oliver Box, speaking on behalf of the family-owned pub, said:

“One thousand plastic straws cost just £1, while the same number of paper straws is £10. We are putting a jar on the bar where we hope customers will contribute in a small way to what we are trying to do.

“We need the financial support of the local community to support the campaign to banish plastic from the village.”

Aberporth Sets an Example for UK Towns and Cities

Aberporth’s success shows that cutting out the use of single-use plastics and fighting ocean plastic pollution isn’t just a far-fetched idea, but is more and more becoming a reality. Their example is one that other UK communities should certainly adopt.

It was fantastic to see so little plastic collected at one of our beach cleans, and we hope that campaigns we have run recently – such as Plasticus the 10 metre plastic whale – will continue to raise awareness of single-use plastics and encourage others to follow Aberporth’s example.