Welcome to the Herne Hill campaign to rid our community of plastic bags. Its a tough ask to change the habits of a lifetime.

On this page are a range of videos and background information relating to why and how we can make this change.

We have launched our very own re-usable bag with the Herne Hill logo on - it is available from the shops on the Southwark side of Herne Hill and is currently limited to those residents in Southwark as the funding has come via the Dulwich Community Council. We are still lobbying Lamberth to match Southwark in this camapign.

Its great that you have clicked through to this page - keep reading and watching and make that change today!

When offered a plastic bag, just say No!

12 STEPS TO MAKING YOURSELF BAG-FREE

Step 1:
Admit to yourself you are a bag-addict - and had better do something about it before you stuff up your country, your kids’ future and a whole lot of innocent wildlife.

Step 2:
Come to believe that you have the power to reject plastic shopping bags. That you can truly live without them. That this power will set you free!

Step 3:
Make a firm decision to reject plastic shopping bags, now and forever. Take part in the Plastic Bag Famine and always carry a reusable bag wherever you go.

Step 4:
Find out about the mess plastic bags are making of the world. The waste, the choked landfills, the polluted rivers and estuaries, the dead animals, the litter, the greenhouse emissions. Ask yourself: why did I ever become a bag-addict?

Step 5:
Confess your addiction to others. Go into your home, workplace or the pub and cry in a loud, proud voice “I am a bag addict”. Be absolutely honest about your addiction to unrecyclable rubbish.

Step 6:
Reflect on your bag-crimes. The 25,000 plastic bags you will use in your lifetime were each used for minutes – but they will still be here when your great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandchildren inhabit the place. And their descendents. What kind of ancestor are you?

Step 7:
Reflect on whether it was ignorance, laziness or stupidity that made you use plastic bags in the first place. Take a vow to correct these character defects in other aspects of your life as a consumer.

Step 8:
Make a list of all the harms which your prodigal and unthinking use of plastic bags has caused.

Step 9:
Take some action, small or great, to make amends in each case.

Step 10:
Lay the foundation for a bag-free future. Beware of the habits that could cause you to lapse back into your old, polluting ways. Always carry a re-useable bag as a symbol of your freedom.

Step 11:
Having purged yourself of evil ways, go forth and give some other ugly polluter a serve. Harangue your family, your friends, the shop assistant, the people in the checkout queue and your local politician without drawing breath and without mercy. Never give up until they do.

Step 12:
Reflect proudly that, if you never do another damn thing in your life, in giving up plastic bags you have done something worthwhile for the world. You deserve a bloody medal.

This article is from http://plasticbag.org.uk/ - check it out for more information.

What can YOU do about plastic pollution?

Our three suggestions are:

Help clean it up
Dispose of your plastic waste properly
Reduce you use of plastic products

Of these suggestions, only the third one is really a solution! Help clean it up: unfortunately the sheer size of the world's oceans and the extent to which we have filled them with plastic debris means that cleaning them up is a physical impossibility -this is something nature will have to do itself in the coming centuries. However, this isn't to say that helping clean up plastic debris from your local beach is not a worthwhile thing to do. By participating in beach cleanups you are helping to raise awareness of a serious problem. This is the first step in changing the way things are. Even if you live inland and have no local beach, organizing or participating in clean ups is just as important because much of the litter you find in your parks and rivers will inevitably end up in the ocean. Dispose of your plastic waste properly: this should really go without saying. If your local area provides collection facilities for plastic recycling then make sure any plastic you are throwing out is properly separated for recycling. If your local area does not provide such a service then ask them why. However, the big problem with plastic is that much of it cannot be effectively recycled and even more of it is just isn't.

An alternative option is if your local area does not supply plastic recycling services. Organize a meeting with local community to see if you as a community can work together and collect recyclable plastic. There are now recycling companies who will pick up your plastic free of charge if it is deposited in one collection point
Reduce your use of plastic products: at the moment it is impossible to completely remove plastic from you life but it is possible to massively reduce how much you use. Plastic in many ways is a fantastic material; it is relatively cheap to produce, versatile and above all durable to the point of near indestructibility. It is this durability that makes plastic so unsuited for disposable items. Here are some of the worst offenders and how you can avoid them:

Plastic carrier bags – these have to be the worst example of an unnecessary disposable plastic product. Luckily they are also perhaps the easiest one to avoid – BRING YOUR OWN BAG TO THE SHOP!
Plastic water bottles – now a sadly common site in our rivers and oceans. What to do? DRINK TAPWATER – it’s clean and safe and you're already paying for it! What's more it can be conveniently carried in stainless steel water bottles and flasks.

Soft drink bottles -BUY DRINKS IN CANS OR GLASS BOTTLES

Packing on vegetables in supermarkets - ALWAYS TRY AND BUY LOOSE VEG AND FRUIT. Till operators are now used to people just putting vegetables loose into their basket.

Over packaging on meat and fish items - if your supermarket has one, BUY MEAT FROM THE MEAT COUNTER, it usually saves the use of a polystyrene base. Even better – buy you meat from a butcher!

If you are feeling really brave RIP ALL EXCESS PACKAGING OFF your produce and bought items once you hit the checkout. This campaign has actually worked in other European countries with many supermarkets reducing their packaging as a result.

Plastic kid’s toys - we all know the ones that are given out free with certain fast food meals. They entertain the kids for 5 minutes before they get bored of them. This one is not easy as many highly paid child psychologists have been working tirelessly for years to convince your children they need these plastic trinkets. Maybe inform your child that these toys kill animals?As a general rule -THINK BEFORE YOU BUY. If possible when buying anything look for the brand that has the least plastic packaging and buy that one. Consumer choice is a very powerful tool.

The more people that express their dislike of disposable plastic products and packaging with their wallets the easier it will get to find alternatives.

BE PRO-ACTIVE - if this issue concerns you then tell other people about the facts.
Finally, check out the Surfers Against Sewage “return to offender” campaign

Andy Cummins, SAS Campaigns Officer says: “Anyone can help us with this campaign. If you’re walking the dog on the beach and come across a plastic drink container for example, take it home, put it in a parcel and return it to the address listed on the bottle, not forgetting to enclose a copy of SAS’s campaign letter (downloadable at the above link).

This article is from the web site http://www.messageinthewaves.com/action.php - check it out for more information