Proposed by Councillor Brandt, seconded by Councillor Simmons

Green member motion

This Council resolves to request the Board Member to:

Request that a report be brought to CEB on the options for bringing an end to the use of unnecessary Single Use Plastics (SUP) in Oxford, taking account of the following measures to:

a)    enable Oxford City Council to become a full signatory of the ‘Plastic Free Pledge’, by phasing out the use of unnecessary SUPs in all City Council buildings, and working with commissioning partners to end the purchase and procurement of SUPs through the Council’s supply chain;

b)    encourage the city’s businesses, organisations and residents to go ‘plastic free,’ working with best practice partners in the city to explore the creation of a ‘plastic free network,’ that could provide business support, practical guidelines and advice to help local businesses transition from SUPs to sustainable alternatives;

c)    to incentivise traders on Council land to sell re-usable containers and invite customers to bring their own, with the aim of phasing out SUPs; including investigating the possibility of requiring food and drink vendors to avoid SUPs as a condition of their event permission, strengthening the existing conditions and guidance circulated to exhibitors and traders.

Supporting Information

There is a need to be aware of the damaging impact that Single Use Plastics (SUP) have on both our environment and public health, recognising that Oxford City Council has a key role to play in reducing plastic waste.

(1) Unnecessary (i.e. excluding medical items) Single-Use Plastics (SUP) used once before disposal e.g. bottles, cups and straws, are not widely recycled. SUPs can take up to 600 years to degrade, breaking into fragments that cause damage to the environment and permeate the food chain. Recent studies found that 72% of U.K tap water samples were contaminated with plastic fibres, and a third of all fish caught off the British coast contained plastic.

(2) The Plastic Free Pledge encourages organisations and individuals to reduce SUP waste https://plasticfreepledge.com/  A petition calling on the Government to reduce and end SUPs here: http://bit.ly/2xSFLhs 

(3) Several trailblazing businesses and organisations in around the Country have already implemented plastic free alternatives

This motion was not taken because the time for discussing motions had elapsed.