July 11, 2019 4.23 pm This story is over 56 months old

Plastic free campaigners in ‘mass unwrap’ at Lincoln shop

All plastic packaging will be counted and then either disposed of or recycled
Packaging will be 'unwrapped' and handed in at the tills

Lincoln shoppers will be encouraged to hand back packaging at supermarket tills to highlight what campaigners call “unnecessary wrapping”.

Plastic Free Lincoln will join other groups around the country to raise awareness of throwaway plastic being sold at shops.

Campaigners will host their first “mass unwrap” on Saturday, July 13 at Waitrose on Searby Road after the supermarket agreed to support the demonstration.

The “mass unwrap” will be a friendly two-hour session from 2pm where customers can shop as normal, but when they move away from the till they can leave the plastic with a volunteer.

All plastic will be counted and then either disposed of or recycled.

Louise Brown, the lead volunteer at the event, said: “People in Lincoln are recognising that there is too much plastic in their everyday lives and they are finding their voice to say ‘Enough is enough’.

“Through this event, we want to empower citizens to tell the brands that we want them to do more about plastic packaging and offer more choice to shoppers.

“We hope that shoppers buy into the spirit of the event and that this spreads the message about our work on single-use plastic to a wider audience.”

Campaigners also point to research by Greenpeace which revealed how 59 billion pieces of plastic packaging are distributed every year.