To receive the above presentation from Donna Stimson and Patricia Buck.

Donna Stimson and Rushi Millns gave a presentation on Maidenhead Challenging Plastics and Maidenhead Matters and started by providing Members with a little background information about themselves.

Donna Stimson stated she had lived in Maidenhead for 25 years. She had five children, an MBA and been a builder and worked in management. Her children were almost grown up and she felt it was time to give something back to the community. She added she was crazy about Maidenhead as it was a friendly place and she had been exploring options on how she could give back. Everyone wanted to make Maidenhead better.

Donna Stimson said it was fascinating how the interest in plastics had peaked and noted there had been a Blue Planet effect which started in November 2017 and had really taken off. She added it was a good time to excited around the issue.

There had been responses to reduce plastics from both government and the industry and in October 2015, the plastic bag tax was introduced. In February 2018, the issue had become larger and more noticed and lots of responses were given to try and tackle the issue.

The key points of the presentation included:

Ø  Filling stations:

o   Donna Stimson and Rushi Millns came up with a filling station idea, filling water bottles at cafes and restaurants.

o   They discovered there was already a national scheme in place with a phone app.

o   In the last month, Donna Stimson and Rushi Millns had signed up 24 local cafes and restaurants to the scheme.

o   They had also added the names of businesses that allowed free refills to the app so people using the app could locate them.

Ø  Litter and Litterati:

o   It was a worldwide campaign – volunteers photographed the litter, posted the location and then put the litter in the bin.

o   Litterati used an app which identified ‘hotspots’ and posted the locations.

o   It helped to organise litter picking teams

o   Some people picked litter and councillors also helped

o   Holyport Litterati met up on the first Sunday of each month to carry out a litter pick

o   If a place was dirty or messy, it made it easier for people to drop litter. If a place was clean, any litter dropped really stood out so made it harder for people to litter.

Ø  Maidenhead Matters – Website and blog:

o   It was a central place to share initiatives

o   It promoted events such as litter picking

o   The website linked to Twitter and Facebook

o   The blog contained regular stories regarding the community

o   There were minimal costs to set up: £50 to register the web domain, and then £100 per year thereafter. Donna Stimson and Rushi Millns had produced a pro forma that people could use if they wanted to set up something similar in their own areas.

Ø  Litter artist competition:

o   It was a fun competition which used recycling to make art

o   Helped engage children and their families

o   A Heroes Exhibition was being held which tied in with the art competition.

Councillor Yong stated the Nike building in Shanghai was built using 100% recycled material and projects like that inspired children to recycle. She added there could be a competition for older children and those going to university.

Councillor Hollingsworth stated litter picking can be dangerous and enquired as to whether any safety equipment would be provided. Donna Stimson and Rushi Millns confirmed they had submitted a grant to the Council to pay for Hi-Vis vests and grabbers for litter pickers. Councillor Hollingsworth stated litter picks required some organisation and asked if the Adopt-A-Street scheme was still in place. He added his son and granddaughter would often go litter picking during the weekend on his street and now the neighbours helped too. Councillor Pryer confirmed Adopt-A-Street was still in place and residents could still sign up to the scheme and adopt their streets. Councillor Sharp stated the Panel should demand that Council buildings be plastic free by January 2019. He added there were a  number of cafes in the area striving to remove all plastics and were looking for alternatives that were biodegradable.

Councillor Yong said the building in Shanghai made of recycled materials was built in 2013 which meant as a country, Britain was five years behind. The government should be looking at facilities in this country that recycled plastics. She added there were mobile machines where plastic went in one end and a tile that could be reused came out the other. That was needed in this country. Councillor Yong stated she had sent the Chairman the web link for the details as she felt a discussion was needed on how the Borough could get a scheme like that up and running. The Borough should be lobbying the local MPs to implement solutions as plastics were already here and they needed to be recycled.

Councillor Yong said she had a surgery with the Prime Minister and took two gentlemen that worked in packaging with her to speak to Defra to make Britain’s packaging environmentally friendly. Councillor Sharp said the Borough was looking at measures to stop littering and increase the powers of wardens for when people were caught littering. Councillor Pryer confirmed the Adopt-A-Street scheme had 1,200 volunteers and all had been given hi-vis vests and equipment once they signed up. The Borough needed to look at how it publicised the scheme. the Chairman stated the Borough needed to share the Maidenhead Challenging Plastics message and encourage all other Councillors to help encourage others to take up the challenge to reduce plastics and keep the Borough cleaner and tidier. She added she thought the Holyport Litterati had a great idea having one day per month where everyone knew they could volunteer.

Rushi Millns requested Council support to contact schools regarding the litter art competition. She asked the Council to endorse the scheme. the Chairman said she would take the idea away with her and run it by the Lead Member. The Council had run school competitions before so she could look into it. Rushi Millns said she would love to hold an exhibition in the Borough of recycled art.