Mary Maynard, Leader of the Conservative Group at the District Council has successfully proposed a motion to limit the use of single use plastics in and polystyrene in the District.
She is also working with local activists and Harpenden Town Council to limit their use in Harpenden.
The District Council will not buy them for use in Council Offices and will work towards not allowing businesses to sell them on Council property or at events run on Council property, like the Charter Market. The Council will also investigate how it can ban them at premises licenced by the Council.
Plastic is one of our greatest environmental challenges. It is dumped in oceans, choking marine life and transforming marine areas into plastic soup. All over the world, it clogs drains, causing floods and causing disease. It finds its way into our food chain and the impact on our health from the toxins in plastic is not known.
Plastic packaging accounts for nearly half of all plastic waste globally. It takes a few seconds to use but could take up to a thousand years to decompose.