Plastic Straws Find New Home in Scrap Store
In April 2020 it became illegal for businesses to buy or sell plastic straws - before then, it was possible to pick up multicoloured packs of plastic straws in every supermarket, and as a nation we were seriously addicted: people in England used an estimated 4.7 billion plastic straws every year!
As a result of the ban, UHP is one of many organisations who find themselves with left over straws from before April 2020. Being reluctant to just throw away or burn this leftover stock, our operations manager in the DWMS incinerator recently donated 72,000 straws to the local Plymouth scrap store on Union Street.
The store, which is open Monday-Friday and (some!) Saturdays is part of the Plymouth Play Association charity, a not-for-profit membership organisation which provides a range of services for people of all ages. The straws UHP have donated have become part of the extensive safe waste product collection, ready to start their creative afterlives as flower stems or bridges.
Moving forward, DWMS hopes to keep in contact with the charity and help them wherever they can. If any departments across the Trust have any other suitable, clean waste streams that could be donated, contact the Sustainability team (plh-tr.sustainability@nhs.net) and we’ll help you to arrange the donation. Clear up your office and simultaneously encourage the imagination of Plymouth’s kids!
