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CWU Mersey Branch Show The Way Over Single Use Plastics

With the overwhelming evidence of the damage that plastic is doing to our environment, the oceans and to our own health, it is time for serious action to cut our use of plastic, and especially that of ‘single use’ plastics in particular.

That is the message from environmentalists and scientists that the CWU’s Mersey Branch have taken to heart, by removing plastic bags from their promotional goods given out to their membership.

Not only has this been noticed by CWU members following the Branch’s Twitter feed, but so too Unionsafety has learnt, have CWU HQ who currently use plastic bags to supply promotional goods and even posted items such as the their membership journal The Voice.

With plastic bottles and other items being given away by the Union in its promotional merchandise, it is now time the whole of the Union did away with as much plastic promotional items as it can.

In their Twitter feed, Mersey Branch showed the way to other Union Branches on what they can also do for the environment and to encourage the membership to think carefully about their use of plastics.

What is also noticeable is that young workers in the CWU are actively involved in setting the pace for the Union when it comes to wider issues in the community as well as at work.

Mersey Branch's Young Worker Rep Erin Brett raised the issue of the threat to our environment of single use plastics with her Branch Secretary Rob Alldritt who immediately supported her stance and hence the announcement on Twitter following the Branch decision to reduce as much as possible, their use of plastic.

Erin told unionsafety:

“We’ve made the decision to remove any unnecessary plastic from our recruitment pack after looking at how many people we’ve recruited recently. Making this small change can reduce the union’s plastic massively if every branch takes this approach."

She advises everyone:

"We only get one earth, we need to do everything we can to look after it and making small changes like this is just one step in the right direction.”

With a major CWU Branch embarking on continuous recruitment and appealing to young workers directly, Erin and the Branch know the simple action of using paper bags rather than plastic when giving out their promotional gifts; send the right message to all their members.

Has your Branch done the same in supporting the need to reduce forever the amount of plastic in our rivers and oceans? If so, why not let Unionsafety tell your story too?

Contact us via email: webeditor@unionsafety.eu

Source: Twitter / Mersey Branch / Unionsafety

For information on plastic and other forms of pollution, go to the Unionsafety E-Library

 

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