Alderney has big plans to cut use of plastic

Friday 31 December 2021

Efforts to stop single use of plastic packaging are getting a boost in Alderney thanks to another initiative from the Kiln Farm Dairy.

It is working with residents and businesses to encourage milk to be sold in glass rather than plastic bottles over the coming year.

There have already been big strides towards this with a milk vending machine proving popular and now Kiln Farm will deliver its milk in stainless steel churns so it can be decanted into reusable glass bottles for sale.

Pictured: Alderney has vending machines for milk, operated by Kiln Farm Dairy. 

The Alderney Wildlife Trust says there is still a long way to go with tens of thousands of plastic milk bottles used over the past year.

During 2021, more than 85,000 were sold, plus 15,000 milk bottles of other types. That equates to more than 100,000 single-use plastic bottles, or 50 plastic milk bottles per resident, which were then sent off island to be processed at taxpayers' expense and with the associated damage to the environment. 

The Alderney Wildlife Trust is hopeful that number will drop dramatically during 2022 with many of the island's busiest restaurants pledging to ditch plastic bottles in favour of glass bottles.

One of those is The Georgian House, which was using up to 30 plastic milk cartons per day in the summer.

Manager Jade Maguire said: "We have always been committed to reducing our impact on the environment. The implementation of these milk churns by Kiln Farm has provided a simple, user-friendly solution to one of our last remaining uses of single-use plastic."

Pictured: More businesses have committed to using glass rather than plastic milk bottles.

Alderney's States' Assembly hoped to bring in legislation banning single-use plastic carrier bags in January 2021, but that was delayed. The Alderney Wildlife Trust hopes that will happen in 2022 as "the positive impacts that this ban would bring for Alderney’s environment, wildlife, reputation and cost savings for our government continue to go un-met".

Lorna West, Alderney Wildlife Trust Outreach Officer, said: "We must work together as a community to ensure our environment and wildlife are protected from single-use plastics.

"Most islanders are fantastic at using alternatives such as tote bags and boxes. Single-use plastic bags can take 1,000 years to degrade in landfill and if they end up in the environment can kill wildlife through starvation and suffocation.

"We need your support to ensure Alderney takes action to reduce the plastics we use and discard and formally ban their use on our island. Let’s protect our wildlife for the future."

Pictured top: Alderney could still be the first island in the Bailiwick to ban single-use plastic carrier bags alongside other efforts the island is making to reduce use of plastic.