By Marion Montgomery, Community Lead, Plastic Free Stonehaven
You’re invited to join the celebration of PLASTIC FREE STONEHAVEN gaining Plastic Free Status for Stonehaven this coming Saturday, 7th September after our community BEACH CLEAN with PAWS ON PLASTIC which takes place 10-11am.
Join us at The Craws Nest, (the small raised platform by the metal pedestrian bridge over the River Cowie) for safety briefing at 10am. These beach cleans take place on the first Saturday of every month and receive great support from the local community with around 30-40 people regularly attending. It’s great getting out in the fresh air doing something so positive along with other members of the community. Our beautiful beach really benefits from some love.
After this beach clean we will be celebrating Stonehaven achieving ‘plastic free community’ status from Surfers against Sewage with cake & refreshments.
All are welcome to join us, individuals, businesses, beach cleaners, community ally organisations and everyone in the community keen to learn more about how to get involved with our campaign.
Stonehaven has now joined a network of communities across the UK who are leading the way to tackle throw away plastic at source. The town was awarded Plastic Free Community status by marine conservation charity, SURFERS AGAINST SEWAGE (SAS), in July in recognition of the work it has done to start reducing the impact of single-use plastic on the environment.
Plastic Free Stonehaven, started by local Councillor, SARAH DICKINSON in November 2022 and led by local resident MARION MONTGOMERY – who also founded Paws on Plastic, a charity which promotes the idea of dog owners picking up a few bits of litter on their daily walks – has been hugely successful in gaining support from residents and businesses in the Stonehaven community for its campaign.
Registering with the SAS Plastic Free Communities movement, Plastic Free Stonehaven pulled together key organisations and businesses in the town to put in place a five-point plan. The objectives include; setting up a community led steering group, instigating the SAS Plastic Free Schools education programme, getting local community council commitment and working with local businesses, organisations and community groups to spread the word and minimise the amount of disposable plastics they use.
Said, Marion Montgomery of Plastic Free Stonehaven, “It’s been fantastic to see the support in Stonehaven, both among businesses, community groups and individual residents alike looking for ways to reduce their use of single use plastics and also in terms of coming out and participating in our monthly beach cleans with Paws on Plastic SCO51306 on the first Saturday of every month. We regularly get 30-40 volunteers turning out, including families with children who love getting a stamp on their beach clean reward cards. Finds include everything from welly boots to fishing nets and everyone gets a real buzz from doing their own wee bit to protect our town’s beautiful environment. We’ve also enjoyed litter picks with a number of local groups so it’s awesome to see a real community effort around the campaign to keep our town clean and safe for all. To date in 2024, 16 cleans have been organised, 641 kgs waste removed with 650 volunteer hours. (The total removed at monthly cleans during the whole of 2023 was 261kg!)’
There are now 9 small, independent Stonehaven businesses which have been accredited as ‘Plastic Free Champions’ by Surfers against Sewage – Godsman Graphics, Lou Sells Preloved Labels, Bayview Apartments, Replenish, My Beautiful Caravan, How Bizarre How Bizarre, Carma, Fountainhall Wines and Beauty 53.. We also have another 8 businesses which have registered and are currently working on achieving the award.
Businesses are required to list 3 ways in which they have removed single use plastic items from their business. Examples of things our plastic free champions have done are – choosing reusable coffee cups instead of disposables, offering refillable shampoo/conditioner bottles instead of single use, reusing packaging materials, offering paper bags instead of plastic, only using reusable water bottles,
offering plastic free gift cards and sourcing products from suppliers with less packaging.
CHERYL SMITH of Beauty 53, the first Stonehaven business to achieve a SILVER Plastic Free Champion Award stated, ‘It can be challenging to be single use plastic free in the beauty industry, but I strive to do all I can as well as being as eco conscious as possible in the salon and at home. A little can go a long way and even small conscious choices can create a ripple effect, hopefully inspiring others too.’
Plastic Free Stonehaven has successfully recruited a wide range of local groups and organisations as ‘community allies’ who have acted as ambassadors of the campaign, encouraging the support of the wider community. Organisations include Stonehaven Horizon Group, Stonehaven & District Men’s Shed, Stonehaven Youth Club, Stonehaven Community Collective, Mearns FM, Stonehaven Community Fire Station, Paws on Plastic SCO51306, 1st Stonehaven Scout Group, Stonehaven Explorer Scouts, Stonehaven Parkrun, Stonehaven Library, Kincardineshire Development Partnership, Stonehaven Carronside Church, Fair Trade Stonehaven, Friends of Forest Drive Park and Stonehaven Fetteresso Church. This has also included Mackie Academy which has registered with the Plastic Free Schools Programme and is itself working towards gaining Plastic Free Schools status.
In addition to the regular community beach cleans with Paws on Plastic, both Plastic Free Stonehaven and Paws on Plastic have also run individual litterpicks for 1st Stonehaven Explorer Scouts, Stonehaven District Guides, including Guides, Brownies and Rainbows), Mackie Academy, Mill o’Forest Primary School and Arduthie Primary School and Lloyd’s Register. Other events have included a ‘Soft Plastics Unwrap Event’ at Stonehaven David Street Coop store and a ‘Recycled
Christmas Craft’ event at the Scout Hut in January which was well attended.
Said Marion, ‘It’s amazing to finally gain Plastic Free Status. We are a small team of 3 volunteers – myself, Councillor Sarah Dickinson and Fiona Basford – with regular support for the beach cleans also from my husband Alistair. It is however, very much an achievement for the whole Stonehaven community given the huge widespread support from across the town. A huge thank you to all who have given their support in all the different ways, from sharing social media posts, to inviting us along to speak at events or to turning out to our beach cleans. This award is for Stonehaven as a town and really puts us on the map as a town that cares for the environment and is willing to take action to protect it.’
‘This is only the start of our ‘Plastic Free’ journey – of course our town now isn’t completely plastic free. This is the first step towards that. It’s the start of conversations, of gradually replacing single use items with reusables. The fantastic thing is that these are often simple swaps that actually often save money and are far better than single use options.’
The Surfers Against Sewage Plastic Free Community network aims to free the places where we live from single-use. Using the five point plan the aim is to empower communities to kick start local grassroots action, which can then be built upon.
The marine conservation charity, based in St Agnes in Cornwall, says it wants to unite communities to tackle avoidable plastic from the beach all the way back to the brands and businesses who create it. It says it is not about removing all plastic from our lives, but kicking our addiction to throwaway plastic and changing the system that produces it.
Rachel Yates, SAS Plastic Free Communities Project Manager, said: “It’s great to see the work that Stonehaven has done to reduce the availability of avoidable plastics, raise awareness and encourage people to refill and reuse.
“We have over seven hundred communities across the UK working to reduce single use plastic and the impact it has on our environment. Every step those communities and the individuals in them take is a step towards tackling the problem at source, challenging our throwaway culture and encouraging the habit and system changes we need to see.”
