Women campaign to get village plastic bag-free
9:24am Sunday 6th July 2008
ANOTHER north Hampshire village could soon become plastic bag-free thanks to a campaign being launched by the local Women's Institute.
Members of Bramley WI Lite have started a drive to get everyone in Bramley to ditch plastic bags in favour of reusable ones, following the success of a similar scheme that began in Overton last November.
Emma Cunningham, president of Bramley WI Lite, said: "The idea came about at a WI Lite committee meeting. We heard that Overton had gone plastic bag-free and thought it was such a great idea we wanted to do something similar in Bramley.
"The owners of Bramley Village Bakery have got on board, and are looking into having their own cotton bags, so we're already well on the way."
To encourage their fellow villagers to embrace the idea, women from WI Lite will be giving away home-made reusable bags, made from recycled old curtains and other scraps of fabric found lying around members' houses, at Bramley C of E Primary School fete on Saturday.
Ms Cunningham, 35, of Taylor Drive, said: "We have been making the bags at sewathons and have, so far, made about 30. Some of them are gorgeous and look really retro, as they are made from 20-year-old Laura Ashley fabric.
"We'll be giving the bags away at the fete, but hope that, in exchange, people will give a donation to Naomi House, a charity WI Lite is really close to."
As well as their homemade long-handled shopping bags, Bramley WI Lite will be selling special cotton bags printed with the message "Live Life Lite" for £1.50 at the fete.
Tracey Smart, owner of Bramley Village Bakery, said: "We are very interested in helping to reduce the number of plastic bags used in the village.
"At the moment, we use a lot of plastic bags every day, so by switching to reusable ones, printed with our own logo, we should save a lot of plastic.
"We don't have the bags yet, but hope to be getting them soon."