It will help fight the climate emergency.

War on plastic

Manchester City Council is planning to turn the old Central Retail Park on Great Ancoats Street into a 440 space car park. If the car park is built, there will be around 1000 cars moving in and out onto already busy Great Ancoats Street. This will increase pollution in a city with appalling childhood asthma rates and one which consistently ranks amongst cities with the worst air quality in Europe. The site is also right next to a primary school. Manchester City Council has declared a climate emergency, and has committed to reducing carbon emissions. Building a huge car park that will increase pollution is in direct contradiction to this. The application is due to go to planning in September/October where we will deliver the petition. Please sign the petition now, and call on Manchester City Council to turn this area into a much needed green community space for families, residents and visitors.

Plants planted in verges provide a motorway for insects and bees. Secondly they trap particles of pollution in their leaf surfaces, and absorb gases through their pores on the leaves. This pollution especially from car exhaust gases is toxic and especially harmful to children and elderly people.

Rubbish bins has flys and mosquitos and this effect everyones health. If doesn't get collected there will rats and mice infestation.

Most councils can't recycle blister packs.

ENVIRONMENT NEEDS THIS TO STOP THE SALE OF PLASTIC BOTTLED WATER [AT SILLY PRICES] IN DARLINGTON AND THE REST OF THE COUNTRY

Bringing in extra food for the birds adds to the problem destroying the biodiversity of woodland and making it virtually impossible for the ground flora to return

Plantlife helps councils manage their verges and greens for native wild flowers and wildlife. Increasingly, local authorities are opting to save money on mowing/strimming by seeding verges and other grassed areas with native plants that are good for struggling wildlife species from butterflies and bees to hedgehogs and voles. These wildlife managed areas are then encouraged to grow naturally and only cut once a year in late Autumn. MBC has debated the climate crisis - now let's encourage them to make a positive start in the next financial year and help turn bare, mown road verges into blooming wild flower meadows!

Monmouthshire County Council is dealing with an application to create a waste incinerator/power station to operate in a rural location near the River Usk (at Trostrey Court, near Llancayo). The incinerator would take waste wood, and refuse-derived fuel, including plastic. The plans involve three chimneys, 17 metres high (more than 55 feet). Despite there being a climate change emergency, and the fact that official assessments have indicated that there are enough incinerators in this area to deal with our own waste, the plan is to develop an industrial scale power station on green fields in the Usk valley. Many issues still remain unclear - visual impact, noise, pollution, health, air flows – but many are all too clear: truck-loads of waste will be brought down country lanes to feed a polluting, C02-emitting power plant. The current application, part of a scheme expanded since 2007 in dribs and drabs, could be presented to a future planning meeting at any time, with objectors getting just 21 days’ notice. The planning matter is being handled by the case officer, Kate Bingham (katebingham@monmouthshire.gov.uk) The application is ref: DM/2018/01641 Sign our petition to STOP this scheme now before it is too late.

We know 80% of people are concerned about plastic pollution [1] and want to do more to reduce the amount of single-use plastic they use. But retailers don’t always make it easy to find plastic-free products. We know that many retailers are starting to take action to prevent plastic pollution in certain areas of their business. But they need to know that promoting plastic travel minis without offering plastic-free alternatives is no longer acceptable. By acting on your feedback they can inspire the market & help us all escape from plastic pollution. Why is this important: Holidaymakers cause a 40% surge in marine litter entering the Mediterranean [2]. Research [3] estimates that 980 tonnes of mini-plastic shampoo bottles are being dumped by British holidaymakers abroad each year - that’s equivalent to two-and-a-half Boeing 747s. In one year alone 15.5 million people bought travel miniatures (amounting to a whopping 103 million products) but just under half of them dumped the packaging afterwards! A spokesperson for Thomas Cook said [4] the issue of single-use plastic matters to 90% of its customers, according to a survey of more than 3,000 people. “Significantly for the travel industry, the amount of plastic litter going into the Mediterranean increases by 40% during the summer months, demonstrating a direct link between our industry and plastic pollution.” On the back of its research, Thomas Cook has said it could save 70 million pieces of single-use plastic in the next year alone. Together we can make a difference Retailers listen to what their customers say and by signing our petition you’ll be making your voice heard and telling them we want a choice and plastic-free alternatives can and should be available. Find out what else you can do by getting involved with our Plastic Free Travel campaign. [1] https://pebblemag.com/news/zero-waste-week-single-use-plastic [2] https://www.wwf.org.uk/updates/tourists-cause-almost-40-spike-plastic-entering-mediterranean-sea-each-summer [3] https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/6887323/holidaymakers-travel-size-toiletries-plastic-waste/ [4] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/beach-holidays/thomas-cook-pledge-to-remove-single-use-plastics-from-resorts/ [5] https://www.citytosea.org.uk/campaigns/

Southampton is the number one cruise terminal in Northern Europe welcoming two million passengers every year on 500 vessels. 85% of the UK cruise market is based in Southampton, which is the only port capable of receiving such large vessels. In June 2019, sustainable transport group Transport & Environment revealed that in 2017, Carnival Corporation & PLC, the world’s largest cruise operator, emitted nearly 10 times more sulphur oxide around European coasts than all 260+ million European cars. Southampton is in the top four of Europe’s most polluted ports. Cruise ship emissions include sulphur oxide, which forms sulphate aerosols and fine particles that harm human health, cause acid rain, and acidify the seas. Additionally, cruise ships are emitting poisonous nitrogen dioxide and carbon dioxide. Carnival’s cruise ships are being powered 97% by fossil fuel. The cruise company has committed to building nine Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) powered ships by 2025 to add to the two already in its fleet. But powering ships with the, albeit cleaner, natural gas has its own environmental risks. Spills at shipyards during refuelling or on board release methane, an explosive greenhouse gas, 30 times worse for the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. Additionally, LNG is often obtained through fracking. The World Health Organisation has named Southampton as one of the most polluted cities in the UK. Southampton City Council estimates that 23% of the air pollution in the city comes from the port. Public Health England’s Strategic Plan (2016 to 2020) identifies reducing the health impacts of local air pollution as a priority. In depth research analysis by Transport and Environment shows a direct link between docked cruise ship pollution and illnesses such as childhood asthma, cardio vascular disease, lung cancer, and cardiopulmonary conditions. The Association of British Ports Southampton hopes, by 2020, to be the first UK ‘smart port’, which will enable all shipside activity to reach zero emissions. Carnival is apparently not willing to make the shift voluntarily, so we need the government to step in and mandate zero emission standards. According to Carnival’s Sustainability Report (2016), the company currently purchases 0.1% of electricity globally for dockside power. The company refuses to adapt to shore-side electricity, instead opting to keep engines running continuously whilst in port. Please sign this petition to demand that Carnival Corporation retrofit all current and future vessels for shore-side electricity, thereby cutting Southampton Port emissions to zero and contributing to a sustainable, low carbon economy and a healthier city.