Newport firms say no to plastic waste

The awards were given out to the Aroma Emporium, Smallwood Lodge and All About Newport by Susanne Finlay-Bearblock of Sustainable Newport.

She presented Julianne Griffin of the Aroma Emporium health shop with a display sign and a certificate, from the Surfers Against Sewage scheme.

Susanne said: "Julianne offers a cosmetics, shampoo and conditioner refills scheme which reduces the need for single use plastic containers that would usually be an unavoidable part of purchasing a new cosmetic or bottle of shampoo or conditioner.

"In the hairdressing section of the business, they are using re-usable plastic gloves rather than single use plastic gloves, and they also do not offer plastic cups, plastic straws, stirrers or balloons."

Julianne said: "It's really nice to be rewarded for doing something good. Anything to help the environment and reduce any sort of waste is good."

Upcycling

Sustainable Newport also organised an upcycling event at the town library, which involved a free sewing session led by Catherine Demet of Love Dressmaking.

Women who came along turned old clothes and scraps of fabric into new bags to take away.

Meanwhile the group has been successfully encouraging more than a dozen Newport businesses to sign up to the Refill water app.

Susanne said: "The app is a national scheme where anyone can have their re-usable water bottle refilled with free tap water at participating local businesses.

"There were only two local businesses signed up to the nationwide scheme until Sustainable Newport mounted a campaign to sign up more. There are now 21 places within Newport and the local area participating in the scheme."

She added: "If you look on the Refill water app, you can choose a location and see where you can go to get your water bottle refilled with free tap water.

"The Refill project not only promotes the use of tap water, it also helps reduce the need for single use plastic water bottles."