A CAMPAIGN is underway to get shops in Ludlow to stop using plastic packaging.

Lady Plymouth, whose family own the Ludlow Farm Shop, has launched an initiative to bring these ideas and changes in attitude to retailers and food outlets in Ludlow and the surrounding beautiful south Shropshire Hills.

At the beginning of October Caroline Plymouth invited retailers in the town to a gathering with drinks and nibbles in the upper room in the Angel in Broad Street to see a presentation of the growing number of packaging alternatives to plastic, to discuss the current state of affairs and consider what else they could all do.

Companies offering compostable alternatives to plastic showed their wares, and the town’s retailers discussed their strategies and ways they could influence other retailers and their customers to become less dependent on plastic.

Retailers in the town are already responding to the call:

Broad Bean delicatessen in Broad Street (recently voted National Deli of the Year) is now plastic free.

They sell olives, humus and similar foods in compostable veg ware, while all other products are in cardboard or glass containers.

Myriad Organics at the bottom of Corve Street is also doing well, using compostable plastic for wrapping with the added fine, old-fashioned practice of selling milk in bottles.

Martin Emsen of the Cicchetti Bar tells us his cafe is now plastic-free – a good example to other eateries in the town. Griffiths butchers were a leader in the field and has used paper or compostable bags for a long time, while Walls are moving over to compostable bags with their next purchase of carrier bags.

Vaughans, the sandwich bar is also becoming plastic free and 55 mill street decorative antiques intends to experiment with wrapping breakable items in newspaper, which can simply be recycled in the normal way after this secondary use, rather than plastic bubble wrap.

It is hoped that this is just a start and that more businesses in and around Ludlow will join the campaign to make plastic packaging a thing of the past.

Individuals that have given up plastic include Ludlow Town councillor Dianne Lyle, the founder of the Repair Café.

Anyone who wants to help or get involved in the campaign can register their interest on the website www.plasticfreeludlow.com