Eco-laundry brand smol and Brighton’s Magpie Recycling Co-op have joined forces to launch The Big Laundry Plastic Amnesty to help recycle some of the near 100 tonnes of laundry plastic that local households get through annually.
In light of the fact that just 29.4% of waste is being recycled in Brighton and Hove – well below the national average of 45.5% – smol and Magpie Recycling are offering to collect laundry plastic from the community and transform it into something useful and also offering free eco-friendly alternatives.
Brightonians are able to donate their empty single-use laundry plastic containers to smol via home collection on Saturday 10 September or they can bring laundry plastic along to Jubilee Square, Brighton, on Sunday 11 September. The collected laundry plastic will then be collected to be transformed into benches for the local community.
People who can’t make it at the weekend will be able to drop off their plastic at local collection points, such as Bird & Blend Tea Co, before or after the weekend. Smol will be updating these locations on their website and social channels.
“Failure to re-negotiate a 30-year PFI contract for Brighton and Hove Council has meant locals have been unable to recycle a wide variety of plastics, including laundry plastics which account for almost 100 tonnes of the plastic waste Brighton produces annually,” asserts Rob Jones-Mantle from Magpie. “As a result, communities have been stepping up to fill the void and tackle the plastic problem themselves.”
Nick Green, co-founder of smol, adds: “Brighton is just one example where systems and infrastructure are failing people who want to make a difference and help the environment. People have been taking matters into their own hands for long enough; it should be laundry giants – the likes of P&G and Unilever – that should be footing the cost and doing their part in reducing waste by switching to readily available sustainable alternatives to plastic packaging that are more easily and widely recycled.
“Home to the country’s only Green MP, the people of Brighton and Hove have demonstrated a commitment to sustainability that made it the natural place to start for our Plastic Amnesty. However, we hope to take similar initiatives around the UK to help show even more communities the power of going plastic-free with their laundry.”
