Dear Shropshire County Council

Dear Shropshire County Council,

I'm sure you are well aware of the recent media attention plastic pollution has been recieving. Between David Attenborough's Blue Planet II and charities such as Surfers Against Sewage, the desire to turn the plastic tide is becoming greater.

While I am aware we are landlocked Shropshire - our plastic waste is still an issue and is contributing towards the ocean pollution as roughly 80% of all waste in the ocean comes from the land. But to bring the issue back home, our streets are covered in single-use plastics.

With the recent good weather over the Bank Holiday weekends, I, personally, saw a massive increase in litter spread far and wide across my town. Water bottles, lolly wrappers, cans, take out containers. It was everywhere.

Just a small example

 

While I do not blame you for the publics' wanton littering, all this rubbish begged the question: Where are all the bins? Some context for you, I live in Market Drayton. On the high street there are four bins. Four. One by the Buttercross, one outside Costa, one outside the solicitors, and one by the war memorial. They are stuck on walls, small, and all but invisible on market day.

Which begs my next question: Where is the variety in the bins?

Recyclables and non-recyclables thrown in together

 

This bin is just off the high street. The top majority of the top layer is made of recyclable items - the cans, plastic bottles, paper. We should really be recycling these items. If binned in our homes, most of these items could (and should) be sorted into our black recycling boxes or the blue cardboard bag. So why is this not available on our streets?

Many cities and towns across the UK offer this - Brighton, Crewe, Northampton, to name a few. Why can't we have this in my town? Why can't we have this across Shropshire? So little plastic is recycled as it is, don't exaserbate the problem by not giving us the option.

Is it possible to provide our towns with more and varied bins? I cannot see why the answer to this question would be no. Shropshire is a beautiful county - our green countryside is one of the many reasons why I love the area. What I hate is seeing it covered with plastics which I know can be disposed of responsibly.

I do not understand why this is not already widely available. Let's keep our oceans clean and Shropshire green. I believe we can achieve this by replacing the 'one size fits all' style bins we currently have with ones which allow us to separate our rubbish. Bins which provide for plastic, cardboard, metal, and general waste are desperately needed if we are to keep up wth the sheer amount of waste we produce - daily.

Thank you for your time. I hope to see a change soon.

Emily Haylock