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To: Taunton Deane Borough Council and Taunton & District Carnival Committee

Support Taunton runners who say no, to plastic bottles!

Commit to stopping the distribution of plastic drinks bottles at all TDBC-linked running events.

Why is this important?

Alongside 650 others, I ran the Taunton DLO 10K on 30th September. I was disappointed to discover that the halfway drinks station was handing out plastic bottles of water, the majority of which were slung over the next few hundred metres.

An estimated 1,300 single use plastic bottles were generated at this event. Even more were handed out at the Marathon and Half Marathon event in April. This is just unnecessary plastic waste generation that can easily be replaced by more environmentally-friendly alternatives, such as using paper cups at the drinks stations.

Cutting out single use plastic bottles at such events is important as it would demonstrate the council’s leadership and responsibility in reducing plastic waste locally. It would show the council's commitment to honouring the Somerset-wide "Pledge against Preventable Plastics" taken on World Environment Day.

Please sign this petition, endorsed by Taunton Transition Town, for a more sustainable and plastic-free future locally!

How it will be delivered

Via email to TDBC and the Taunton & District Carnival Committee, as event organisers

Taunton, Somerset

Maps © Stamen; Data © OSM and contributors, ODbL

Category

Updates

2019-09-05 00:12:57 +0100

Just to provide a short update to the petition - it was received favourably by all at a full council meeting in December 2018. Councilors recognised that they must do more to fulfill their earlier pledge of making TDBC "single-use plastic free". Likewise the Carnival Committee were positive about the aims of the petition have reduced the number of single-use plastic bottles by 25 % at this year's running events, and are looking at ways to reduce the number still further. So we're not quite there yet in terms of plastic waste elimination, but the petition definitely did have an impact and so many thanks to every one who took the trouble to sign.

2018-10-24 16:03:41 +0100

500 signatures reached

2018-10-23 16:33:37 +0100

100 signatures reached

2018-10-23 00:18:58 +0100

50 signatures reached

2018-10-21 13:08:04 +0100

25 signatures reached

2018-10-20 12:31:32 +0100

10 signatures reached