A Bags For Life Challenge

The Amber Valley Green Party has laid down a Bags for Life Challenge. They say that when it comes to Bags For Life, Dave Wells must be in possession of a record breaker. And if he isn’t they would love to hear from anyone in Amber Valley who can do better.

The Green Party member first started campaigning about the excessive use of plastic more than 30 years ago when it was very much a fringe issue and he is still using his “Say No to Plastic Bags” shopping bag today.  It looks a bit worse for wear but it is still going strong.  Dave said:

The thing is, I have been campaigning against and teaching about the excessive use of plastic packaging for over 30 years. In the late 1980s I wrote to Sainsbury’s to suggest that they charge for their plastic shopping bags. As far back as 1990 The Derby Recycling Action Group, of which I was a member, put on a display in the Eagle Centre highlighting the problem of excessive packaging and the same year I wrote to Amber Valley Borough Council to suggest that they introduce kerbside collection of recyclables.  

Dave, who recently retired from teaching, has also been educating youngsters to “Reduce Re-use and Recycle” since the 90s.

Last June my students wrote to Michael Gove suggesting that the government introduce a deposit scheme for plastic bottles; his reply was non-committal, to say the least. While I recognise that some members of the government may have experienced an epiphany about plastic packaging, I can’t help but think there may be a bit of opportunism involved here…. I wait to see what real action they take.

Meanwhile if you have a Bag for Life story to share – especially if yours is older than Dave’s – the Amber Valley Green Party would love to hear from you, and you can post pictures of your Bag for Life on their facebook page here: Amber Valley Greens

They would also like to know the items you would like to be able to recycle through the Amber Valley Borough Council collection schemes but currently can’t (for example plastic food trays).

Contact them via facebook or twitter @ambervgreens with the #WeWant2recycle.”

Dave Wells is a Green Party Candidate and will be campaigning  to win a seat on Amber Valley Borough Council this May.