Welcome to the Wycombe Friends of the Earth website
We hope you find this website a useful resource and return regularly to check our progress on campaigning for environmental justice within the Wycombe District.
|
Video Page
 |
Eco Tip of the Month
Our Food Chain Campaign (www.fixthefoodchain.com)
reveals the damage global factory farming does to the climate and eco-systems across the world.
Why not skip supermarket products from the far side of the planet and buy delicious,
organic produce at your local farmers market instead?
High Wycombe Farmer’s Market is located in Frogmore on the third Saturday of every month.
The next one is on Saturday 20th March 9.00am-1.00pm
|
Green
Calendar |
|
Reducing Unnecessary Packaging - Campaign Update
March
20th is High Wycombe's "Bring your own bag" shopping day!
WFOE are currently helping deliver a project on behalf of the Wycombe Local
Strategic Partnership to reduce unnecessary and environmentally damaging packaging,
initially focusing on single-use plastic bags.
March 20th 2010 will be
Wycombe’s own "Bring your own bag" shopping day.
This campaign follows up and builds on our achievements prior to the
opening of Eden in 2008.
For more information on why plastic bags are a problem click
here 174 retailers in all areas of High Wycombe took part in our survey to investigate current policies as far as bags are concerned and our thanks go to all who took the time to answer our surveyors’ questions. The results show that many shops are already seeing a reduction in plastic bag usage simply by asking a customer “Do you need a bag?” or “Can you manage without a bag?” From our survey data, it is estimated that this simple act can reduce the number of bags being handed out by a retail outlet by as much as 50%. Others have advanced to making a charge for each single-use bag being handed out or alternatively asking the customer to make a donation to charity if he/she needs to be provided with a bag. Some shops are managing to avoid the need for free single-use bags at all. These include Ruby Moon and Holland & Barrett. With the exception of two isolated cases, none have reported negative reactions from customers as a result. Others, such as W H Smith, Waterstones, Sport & Ski discourage the use of single-use bags by making a charge in some form for them. Several others offer paper bags rather than plastic; this is better for the environment at the disposal stage, but as paper uses a lot of energy to produce, this is unfortunately not necessarily a better option at the manufacturing end. Many expressed a wish to work co-operatively with other retailers in the purchasing of bags and also in the disposal/recycling of plastic and paper. Can Wycombe District Council help here? Lush provide a service of recycling their black pots and Superdrug can recycle batteries. Summary of questionnaire results here Therefore we say “please bring your own bag”. It really takes only a little effort but this could significantly reduce the current quantity of around 5 billion single use bags (4,740 tonnes of bags) being taken by shoppers at the tills of the leading supermarkets in the UK each year. Thanks to major efforts by the supermarkets an almost 50% reduction in usage has been achieved since 2006. Please support High Wycombe’s “Bring Your Own Bag” day on March 20th. Be sure to bring a bag with you on that day in particular and - even better - make it a habit that will stick. Find yourself a small foldable bag to put into your pocket or handbag and take it with you always. And for the big shop – well, there are plenty of sturdy re-usable bags to choose from. (more information on our campaigns page) Press release issued 11th January |
* * * * *
The Wave rally
Many WFOE members and friends joined the masses at The Wave rally in London on 5th December, demanding a strong and fair agreement at the forthcoming Copenhagen Climate Change talks. En-route to the station, a small group braved the scurrying Christmas shoppers in High Wycombe Town Centre with the mini "Wycombe Wave" march / stroll.
Our thanks to Mark Brown of Transition Town High Wycombe for
these pictures.
Members of the Wycombe Wave contingent.
