THORNBURY has officially been declared a plastic free community thanks to the efforts of a dedicated group of volunteers.

The town has been awarded the status in recognition of the work it has done to start reducing the impact of single-use plastic on the environment.

The accolade has been awarded by marine conservation charity Surfers Against Sewage (SAS).

It comes after Plastic Free Thornbury pulled together key organisations and businesses across the town to put in place an action plan.

Many businesses have introduced discounts on customers bringing reusable bottles and have also fed back to suppliers about reducing plastic packaging.

There have also been community activities such as a display at the library, monthly litter picks with the Thornbury Litterbusters and an arts event display at St Mary's School.

Meanwhile, many groups and organisations have become community allies such as Thornbury Radio, Thornbury in Bloom and Sustainable Thornbury.

Emma Young from Plastic Free Thornbury said: "It's been great how many local independent businesses are already doing so much to reduce their single use plastic.

“Gaining the status of being plastic free doesn’t mean the town is plastic free but it's a good start.

“Efforts will continue to educate and inform people of the damage plastic is doing and how we can all stop this.”

Rachel Yates, SAS project manager, said: “It’s great to see the work that Thornbury has done to reduce the availability of avoidable plastics, raise awareness and encourage people to refill and reuse.

“We have over six hundred communities across the UK working to reduce single use plastic and the impact it has on our environment. 

“Every step those communities and the individuals in them take is a step towards tackling the problem at source, challenging our throwaway culture and encouraging the habit and system changes we need to see.”

The action plan objectives included: setting up a community-led steering group, instigating the SAS Plastic Free Schools education programme, getting local council commitment and working with local businesses, organisations and community groups to spread the word and minimise the amount of disposable plastics they use.

The Surfers Against Sewage Plastic Free Community network aims to free the places where we live from single-use. 

Using the five point plan the aim is to empower communities to kick-start local grassroots action, which can then be built upon.

The marine conservation charity, based in Cornwall, says it wants to unite communities to tackle avoidable plastic from the beach all the way back to the brands and businesses who create it. 

It says it is not about removing all plastic from our lives, but kicking our addiction to throwaway plastic and changing the system that produces it.