A GROUP of residents and businesses in Mold have come together once again determined to cut down on single-use plastics in the town.

The Plastic Reduction Mold group held a meeting on Thursday June 13 at Mold Town Hall in order to take forward some of the excellent ideas and decide on the priorities for Mold.

The Leader previously ran

a special report on the town making a stand against single-use plastics

– profiling local schools, businesses and politicians who spoke at the initial formation of the group in May

Sarah Pratt, who chaired the public workshop, said she was overwhelmed by the number of interested people who came to the meeting – filling the town hall meeting space.

She said that the group will go forward in manageable stages, starting with promoting the nationwide Refill scheme to local shops, cafes and pubs - providing a network of points offering the public free tap water.

Mrs Pratt said: “By Christmas, we aim to be ready to submit a Mold application for plastic-free community status with the campaign group Surfers Against Sewage.

“We all agreed that reducing the use of single-use plastics here in Mold will be a long-term campaign and will not stop after being awarded certain accreditations. Governments and corporations have a responsibility to take action and, as individuals, what can we do to cut down our personal plastic footprints?”

Hannah Blythyn AM, deputy minister for housing and local government with responsibility for domestic waste and recycling, attended the workshop.

She said: “Plastic pollution is a global problem but Wales is leading the UK in municipal recycling. I am proud of the way households and local authorities have embraced recycling. But there’s a plastic storm, with threats to the environment from the amount of plastic waste and also the complexity of the plastics for recycling.

“The Welsh Government is taking a number of measures to reduce and to reuse plastics. It is important to have the right infrastructure in place here in Wales to deal with our own plastic recycling as much as possible.

Ms Blythyn added that the Welsh Government seeks to move towards a circular economy, which means making more of what we consume here and recycling waste as much as possible.

Some people at the workshop expressed frustration about how long it was going to take to bring forward legislation on these schemes, but Hannah explained that it involved a lot of detailed work with both businesses and local authorities to make sure the legislation was right for Wales.

Gareth Williams, a duty manager at Tesco store in Mold, answered questions relating to the company and said that reducing the amount of single-use plastics was important to him personally, and he would happily take forward some of the suggestions from people at the meeting.

Cllr Andrea Mearns who is one of the Mold Town councilors helping to organise the plastic reduction scheme in the town said: “As well as people attending public meetings there is also a Facebook group [Plastic Reduction Mold - Lleihau Plastig Yr Wyddgrug] with around 500 members who are sharing ideas and suggestions of ways to generate awareness and change, so that we can reduce our use of single-use plastics in Mold every day”.

To get involved or find out more information please contact Mold Town Council on 01352 758532 or email events@moldtowncouncil.org.uk.