Get involved with the Thomas Morgan One Tonne Plastic Challenge

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Campaign dates: 16th July to 19th September

Introduction

The Mayor of Greater Manchester was contacted last year by Cheshire teenager, Thomas Morgan, challenging the people of Greater Manchester to support the “One Tonne Plastic Challenge”, encouraging the GMCA and local councils and partners to collect 1 tonne of plastic waste through litter picking to stop plastics from entering the waterways.

Thomas has previously successfully challenged the Royal Navy to litter pick beaches Navy’s global clean-up removes 2½ tonnes of trash from oceans and waterways (mod.uk)

The clean-up campaign in Greater Manchester will launch Wednesday 16th July, during Plastic Free July and will run for 10-weeks until Friday 19th September.

Why?

Litter is an annoying and avoidable issue.  By going out and cleaning up a local patch, you are helping to raise the issue of litter and showing others with a bit of effort what improvements can be achieved and maintained.  It’s also a great opportunity to meet and chat with like-minded people in your community who are also taking pride in their neighbourhood.

By taking part in a local litter pick, you’re also supporting Plastic Free July – a global movement that helps millions of people be part of the solution to plastic pollution – so we can all enjoy cleaner streets, oceans, and beautiful communities. You can also contribute to Plastic Free July by pledging to refuse single-use plastics, find out more.

How to get involved

The success of the One Tonne Plastic Challenge is reliant on our ten local authorities and other community environment networks and their litter picking groups, enabling delivery of resources (litter picks, hoops and bags, gloves) and risk assessment information and rubbish bag collection.

Residents will need to work with their local authority to ensure a safe event and to arrange the collection of all the bags of litter.   

GMCA will be totalising all the information from each clean-up via a simple online form or via the Green City email.

Information to be totalised across the region includes:

  • Number of bags collected
  • Number of volunteers
  • Location of clean-up
  • Names of organisations for social media tagging
  • Photos from the clean-up (with full permission)

It would be ideal if clean-up activity could be around a waterway, be it a river, canal or reservoir, however it’s not essential.

After 10 weeks of clean-up activity, GMCA will collate all clean-up activity and totalise the final amount of waste collected across the region including the number of volunteers, hours and bags collected – this will be week ending 19th September.

Local Authority Litter-picking Information

Where you live Contact
Bolton Volunteer litter picking – Bolton Council
Bury Report a litter issue – Bury Council
Manchester Keep Manchester Tidy | Keep Manchester Tidy | Manchester City Council
Oldham Organise a community litter pick | Oldham Council
Rochdale Organise a litter pick | Rochdale Borough Council
Salford Litter Heroes•Salford City Council
Stockport We Love Stockport – Stockport Council
Tameside Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council Our Streets Cleaner – Tameside MBC
Trafford Let’s Tidy Trafford Together
Wigan Keep it Clean!

 

Colleagues at R4GM also have some excellent additional hints and tips on organising a safe and fun litter pick in your area: Litter Picking | Recycle for Greater Manchester

If you are a member of a community group and would like to get involved in the challenge but need further information, please email GreenCity@greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk

Finally, please help to contribute to the region’s final total this summer by letting us know what you’ve been collecting and where: Online Form

#GMOneTonneChallenge

Take action…

To make a big change, we must all take small actions. Becoming greener and making an impact is easier than you might think. We have put together a range of blogs, articles, toolkits and checklists to help you make a start.

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Kim from That Toy Thing

The best part of upcycling is that old furniture is often better made than the equivalent flat-packed furniture we get today and with a little bit of time, love and care, you can create a completely unique piece of furniture for your home that no one else will have. I also love that these pieces of furniture have a history of their own and through transforming and updating them we can breathe a new lease of life into them.

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Jo Kennedy, Coordinator of the Great Manchester Wetlands Partnership

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Neil, Rochdale property owner

We used to think we didn’t have enough time to shop on our local market because we were working; how wrong we were?  We discovered it is an amazing place to shop for plastic free. We swapped tea bags for tea leaves and coffee jars for beans which we buy from The Market Grounds on Ashton Market – well worth a visit as the homemade cakes are delicious. All the stall holders have been amazing, not one of them minds us taking our containers to be filled with meat from the butchers. We get our bread, cheese, fruit and veg from the market too.

Julie from Ashton-under-Lyne

Kat Mulhall, Events Manager at Victoria Baths Trust in Manchester

Although becoming carbon neutral is important to our organisation, it’s a lot of work for a small team to put the measures into place. The Journey to Net Zero course has given me practical, step-by-step advice that has made it easy for me to lay the foundations for our organisation to be able to take action and achieve our goal of becoming carbon neutral.

Kat Mulhall, Events Manager at Victoria Baths Trust in Manchester

Kat Mulhall, Events Manager at Victoria Baths Trust in Manchester

The Business Growth Hub has given us focus and extra knowledge. They’ve helped us form the base to grow sustainably and work efficiently as a team while making us conscious of our environmental impact as a business.

 

Ollie Birchall, Founder of Nutri Bar

I’ve not really been a cyclist throughout my life, more of a runner to be honest. And certainly not commuted. But I just thought if I’m going to change, surely now is the moment to change. I’m feeling the personal benefits of doing it. You just feel better when you come into work. It clears your head. There are benefits of cutting congestion, cleaning up the air. Everyone benefits when people cycle.

Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester

We think our water fountain is INCREDIBLE, it’s the perfect place for people to ‘refill’ and help themselves to any of the free edibles we’ve got growing in Market Place. We’re so grateful to all the organisations that helped make this happen. Alongside the plastic free motion that was passed by council and helped us achieve our first Surfers Against Sewage objective and in turn our Plastic Free Community status, it shows real commitment in reducing plastic waste and supporting our community.

 

Pete Fillery, Plastic Free Rammy and Incredible Edible Ramsbottom

I guess I’ve always been what you would call a conscious consumer. I’ve always detested plastic bags, all of my skin care products at home are plastic-free, vegan, and sustainable. My toothbrush is made of bamboo, there’s no plastic anywhere in the house. Everything in the salon has to be vegan – that was the first rule for me. We started with one brand of haircare products that was vegan, organic, and Fairtrade, but the distributor in the UK was wrapping all of the deliveries in plastic, and it felt really needless, so we ditched them.

 

Rachael, Gronn eco-salon in Bury

Although becoming carbon neutral is important to our organisation, it’s a lot of work for a small team to put the measures into place. The Journey to Net Zero course has given me practical, step-by-step advice that has made it easy for me to lay the foundations for our organisation to be able to take action and achieve our goal of becoming carbon neutral.

 

Kat Mulhall, Victoria Baths Trust, Manchester

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