Windsor has been awarded ‘Plastic Free Communities’ status - joining 700 communities across the UK who are leading the way in tackling 'throw away' plastic at source.

The town has been given its award by marine conservation charity Surfers Against Sewage (SAS), in recognition of the work it has done to start reducing the impact of single-use plastic on the environment.

Local lead Paul Hinton started the campaign in September 2018 after watching the Sky News documentary called ‘A Plastic Whale’ in which a sick whale eventually became stranded near Bergen in Norway and was later found to have dozens of plastic supermarket carrier bags in its stomach.

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Registering with the SAS Plastic Free Communities movement, he started Plastic Free Windsor which pulled together key organisations and businesses in the town to put in place a five-point plan.

PFW member Heather Allen said: “We are over-the-moon with excitement that Windsor has been accredited as a Plastic Free Community. Congratulations to everyone who has helped from our very first events in 2018 to the approval of the single-use plastics strategy by the Royal Borough in December 2020.

"There are so many businesses, schools and community groups to thank, it has truly been a community effort.”

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The award recognises that it has been a community campaign. In the two years since the campaign started, twelve Windsor businesses have signed-up as Plastic Free Champions and each removed at least three pieces of single use plastic from their products or operations. More than fifteen Windsor and Eton schools have been involved, and over twelve community groups."

PFW's Phil Norris said: "Windsor has the ingenuity to be a leading-light if we truly rise to this challenge. If you are a business, school, community group, or individual that wants to get involved, please do get in touch at plasticfreewindsor@gmail.com.”