Leaders behind a campaign to make Chester the first plastic straw-free city in the UK are inviting supporters to find out more at a public meeting.

Scientist Dr Christian Dunn, who founded #StrawFreeChester, has organised the event as part of an environmental week of action.

He is calling for anyone interested in the campaign to attend a meeting on Saturday, January 20 at 6.30pm in the Piper Pub, Hoole.

The Piper in Hoole
The Piper in Hoole

The initiative aims to encourage businesses and residents to stop using single-use plastic drinking straws as a way of reducing environmental-damaging plastic waste.

Most straws are made from plastics such as polypropylene and polystyrene, which unless recycled take hundreds of years to decompose.

It means small plastic items like straws, coffee cup lids and plastic bottle tops are strewn in the ocean and on landfill sites – even though they may only have been used for the time it takes to finish a drink.

Dr Dunn, a lecturer at Bangor University, said: “So far there has been some tremendous support for #StrawFreeChester particularly from the Chester Conservatives and the local Friends of the Earth group.

“But I really want to get more individuals, businesses and groups on-board which is why we’re holding a public meeting, open to anyone interested in volunteering and getting involved in #StrawFreeChester, and reducing plastic waste in general.”

The meeting will form part of the Zero Waste Chester Week of Action, which is being organised by Friends of the Earth (FoE) Chester and District group.

Helen Tandy from the group said: “Plastic waste is an environmental disaster and it’s imperative we all do what we can to fight it in Chester.

“We want to make Chester not just the first city in the UK to ditch single-use plastic straws but also to start leading the way in cutting all plastic waste – and we want to kick-start this with our action week.”

Quaker Meeting House

The environmental action week also includes a special viewing of Plastic Shores by Ed Scott-Clarke, on Thursday, January 18, in the Quaker Meeting House at 7.30pm.

Organisers say the ‘inspiring film’ is not currently available to view elsewhere and has been arranged in agreement with Mr Scott-Clarke himself.

For more information on the action week please contact Helen Tandy: helenchesterfoe@hotmail.com