Plastic-free Poplar is a community-led project run by Sunny Jar Eco Hub focused on reducing single use plastic in and around Poplar, East London.
The project supports the local community to take action and come together to create a planet-friendly action plan and find practical solutions for the day to day, to reduce plastic waste.
Greener, low waste living
Sunny Jar runs workshops to spark conversations about greener, low waste living and inspire people to take action. Plastic-free workshops have taken place with English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) learners, at local festivals and community centres – focusing on craft, upcycling and wellbeing. Types of workshops include turning t-shirts into bags, plastic-free wrapping (Furoshiki), cooking skills, craft skills, and sewing.
Taking action on single-use plastics
As part of the project local schools, Lansbury Lawrence, Manorfield and Stebbon Primary, learnt about the impact of single-use plastics. They shared ways that they could help and created a touring art exhibition, to highlight the plastic pollution problem and raise awareness in the community. 100 children wrote to their local MP asking to ban single use plastic.
They’ve have been carrying out research and creating a community action plan, gathering people’s ideas on what needs to happen for Poplar to reduce it’s plastic use. This includes co designing a marketing campaign to encourage people to reuse their own bags around Chrisp street market and the installation of a public water fountain for people to refill their own bottles.
