The villages of Stokers Siding and Crabbes Creek are now the fourth and fifth communities in NSW to officially go plastic bag-free, joining Chillingham and Tumbulgum in ‘banning’ the bag.
Mayor of Tweed, Councillor Kevin Skinner, congratulated the businesses in both villages at the launch event held at Stokers Siding last week.
“Retailers in Stokers Siding and Crabbes Creek are showing great leadership in going plastic bag-free. Their actions mean a reduction of approximately 5000 plastic check-out bags annually,” Councillor Skinner said.
“When Burringbar, Uki, Mooball and Tyalgum receive their bags later in the year, eight of the Tweed’s villages will be ‘plastic bag-free’ communities, adding to the plastic bag savings in the Tweed,” he said.
To the best of Council’s knowledge there is only one officially declared plastic bag-free village in NSW outside the Tweed Shire – Kangaroo Valley south-west of Sydney.
Council’s role in helping village retailers go plastic bag-free includes a one-off supply of reusable shopping bags that are sold in-store to cover the cost of the next order of bags. By supplying the first batch of bags, Council is helping retailers to overcome the initial cost of purchasing an alternative to single-use plastic check-out bags, which is a major hurdle in going plastic bag-free.
This village-by-village approach to plastic bag reduction was developed in response to a Council decision in October 2009 to investigate options for plastic bag reduction in the Tweed.
General Store proprietor Nola Crockett said the initiative would be great for the village.
“I haven’t bought plastic bags since I came here six years ago anyway – people already reused their plastic bags and
recycled,” Ms Crockett said.
The Stokers Siding bag design
features the new village slogan –
Celebrating nature. Cultivating Community – which was developed out of the Stokers Siding and District Community Project.
New village signage, a community plan, slogan and website (www.stokerssiding.com.au) were also developed from this project.
The project outcomes were made possible through an initial grant of $20,000 from the Tweed Clubs’ Community
Development and Support Expenditure Scheme (CDSE) and a $30,000 grant from NSW Industry and Investment.
Council has assisted through the development of a village plan, continuing on from plans already
developed for Tyalgum, Chillingham, Uki and a Caldera Economic Transition Plan.
