Your Plastic Free FAQs

We do not expect communities to be totally plastic free. Our aim is to tackle the single-use plastic crisis, so that’s the avoidable stuff that’s everywhere. Things like plastic drinks bottles, disposable coffee cups, sachets, bathroom plastics, excessive food packaging, takeaway containers etc. These are the things that have a huge impact on our environment and which we can make changes to eliminate. Check them out here:

Yes! Plastic pollution affects all communities. It does not matter where you are, whether you’re on shore or inland, urban or rural, high-tide or high-rise, you will be helping stop the plastic tide. You do, however, have to live within the UK.

Anyone! You can sign up as an individual and build up a group around you to help. Or you can sign-up as a group of friends or an organisation. We just need one point of contact, and one individual to sign the Community Lead Agreement. There’s no set time commitment, it is entirely voluntary and led by you, the community. We don’t want to take over anyone’s existing efforts, but simply help unite groups across the UK and empower individuals and communities to take action.

When you sign up you’ll be asked to select from the dropdown list of areas. Communities are generally defined by their local authority boundaries but we know that community identity is important, so you can sign up for more than one and combine areas if you need to. We recommend that you start small and build up! Large communities such as counties or cities who want to gain accreditation will need to break the area down into smaller areas and roll the toolkit out across the whole area to achieve status. If you are signing up for a larger area like this you will be put in touch with us so we can guide you through the process.

There are Five Objectives which you will work towards to attain the Plastic Free Communities Accreditation. This forms the basis of what we hope will be long term change in your community. The first thing to do is to check them out in the Community Toolkit. If you’re happy to go ahead and lead your community, then register with us and start making your way through the toolkit. How you choose to tackle it is up to you, you know your community best and how to engage with it.

When you register with us you gain access to a Community Dashboard which guides you through the five step toolkit and provides resources and updates. It also includes the ability to upload your progress and evidence to us. Ideally we’d like you to upload your progress at least quarterly, so we can see and celebrate the great work you are doing. Instructions on how to do this are included in your dashboard.

First of all you need to register with us so we know you are working on the campaign. Once you’ve registered you’ll receive a resource pack from us with all the information and material you need to be able to take action. You’ll also get access to an online Community Dashboard through which we send resources and campaign alerts and you can upload your progress and apply for Plastic Free Communities status. You’ll get invited to Regional Hubs and events and we’re here to help.

Yes! Universities can sign up just as a regular community would, and work towards SAS Plastic Free Community Approved status. However, the Community Toolkit is adapted by universities to suit university life, so for example Local Governance is a resolution from the Student Union and also university management board. University outlets on site count as ‘businesses’, Community Allies would mean work within the Uni community to spread the word and also external community link ups to the local Plastic Free Community and other groups … and so on. As with communities, there is no set time commitment for a University to work towards becoming Approved, it is entirely voluntary and you can also retrofit existing work. If you are signing up for a University you will be put in touch with us so we can guide you through the process. Universities can also support their local Plastic Free Community as a ‘Community Ally’.

Raising awareness and educating the next generation is crucial to bring about the culture change we need to see in order to free where we live from single-use.

There are lots of ways schools can get involved, from linking into school themes and topics, to holding assemblies and looking at removing single-use items from the canteen or events.

The easiest way to get a school onboard is getting them to sign up for our Plastic Free Schools Campaign.  See below for more information:

We are delighted that the Plastic Free Communities movement has attracted so much support and interest across the globe. We are a small charity with limited resources, and the phenomenal success of the campaign in the UK means that at this point we are not set up to support communities outside the UK. Please know that we are actively looking at this and hope to activate the programme in the future with a full set of resources. We will announce this on our channels as soon as it is live.

First of all a community needs to sign up with us.

It then gets access to a dashboard which helps the community work through the five objectives and start its journey towards becoming a Plastic Free Community.

When it’s time to apply all you need to do is makes sure all of your work and evidence needed for each objective is uploaded. Your dashboard will show you your progress and once at 100% an alert will come to us as SAS HQ to review your application so we can award you Plastic Free Communities status.

First of all … CONGRATULATIONS! You are supporting a groundswell of community action which is standing up to the blight of single-use plastic in our oceans, beaches, rivers, towns and cities. What you’ve achieved is already making a difference to attitudes and how we buy and dispose of items. Thank you!

So what now?

On achieving the status we send out your approved pack including press release and social media templates. We’ll also announce your work to the world on our social media platforms.

Once the celebrations are over you then join our continuation programme, where you can build on your amazing work. You will get access to an updated dashboard which will help you deepen action in all five objectives and link in to wider work and action across the UK to free our villages, towns and cities from single use plastic. We will again support you with activations, resources and events as we all build on the brilliant foundations you have laid.

There are two ways.

1. Join your local Plastic Free Community

Simply find your local community on our map, drop them a message and tell them you’d like to become a Plastic Free Champion. They’ll sign you up and work with you to achieve the award which will also contribute to your local community’s Plastic Free status.

2. What if there is no Community near me?

No problem. Just sign up direct with us and we’ll award you the status from SAS HQ. Who knows! You may start the plastic free movement where you live!

Yes! Just register with us here and we will set you up with a business dashboard and send you the business toolkit with advice and tips on how to achieve the award. When you are ready to apply just fill in the application on your business dashboard and ww look forward to awarding you Plastic Free Champion status!

To achieve the Plastic Free Champion Award a business needs to remove at least three single-use plastic items (eg. plastic bags, coffee cups and plastic drinks bottles) and show a commitment to tackling any others present in the business going forwards. Once this is in place, businesses get a Plastic Free Champion plaque and certificate to highlight their great work and tell customers and the wider community. It’s a launch-pad to do more if they are able to, and plenty do!

We are working to reduce the impact of single use, throwaway culture. So for us the first line of action has to be to reduce the amount of items we use in the first place. We are looking for businesses to adopt a refuse, refill and reuse mentality. Therefore, for the Champion award, we do not accept swapping to biodegradable OR compostable plastics. But there will be some instances where it is appropriate to swap to a more environmentally friendly alternative and some compostable alternatives do actually compost! So just tell us the alternatives they use as you apply for the champion award and we’ll work out the rest.

The SAS Plastic Free Champion award is specifically for independent, locally owned SME businesses. If larger companies want to get involved; for example, national chains or multi-nationals, then they can join up with their local community as Community Allies and support them through staff engagement and supporting events.

We also look at the wider environmental impact of businesses when assessing the award, so businesses which have high impact or a wider single use plastic issue to tackle would need to demonstrate a clear commitment to change and action to become eligible for the award.

Businesses from many different sectors can become Plastic Free Champions. Our Business Toolkit gives advice specifically on hospitality, hair and beauty, holiday accommodation, leisure and office-based businesses.

The accreditation requires councils to support the Plastic Free Communities campaign in their area via the Plastic Free Communities resolution. It contains these three parts:
1. The council agrees to put a member on your steering committee.
2. The council agrees to support all Plastic Free Communities initiatives in the area.
3. The council pledges to act by example and remove single-use items from its premises
Once passed the Council objective in the toolkit is met.

Work together with your local Plastic Free Community to pass the resolution and then support their local campaigns and projects. You can promote what you are all working on and help get the message to all corners of your community. Encourage schools, businesses and partners to get on board and use your networks. You can also help co-ordinate work to create bigger communities such as Plastic Free Cities or Counties. If you don’t have a community in your area then you can connect with local groups to set one up.

Plastic Free Communities is a grassroots movement and the ‘Approved’ status is awarded to the whole community once it has completed the five-step toolkit. Once your community has achieved the SAS Plastic Free Communities status you can go on to build on it together through annual actions and projects.

We have hundreds of communities across the whole of the UK you can find the nearest one to you on our interactive map. Just search for your location and click on the pin for all of the contact details you need. If there isn’t a community near you why not set one up.

Yes please! Surfers Against Sewage is a national marine conservation and campaigning charity taking action to protect the ocean, beaches, waves and wildlife. By supporting SAS and the Plastic Free Communities campaign you are helping us create ocean activists everywhere, for our vision of a thriving ocean, and thriving people.

Yes you can, but we can’t ringfence funds for local groups, so it has to be clear you are not raising money for – or on behalf of – Surfers Against Sewage, or any of the work we carry out as a charity.

You need to make it clear that the money is for your community and where the money is going/what the money is being spent on. You also need to take full responsibility for making sure you know procedures for the management and accountability of that money if it is for your local group.

There are hundreds of ways you can raise vital funds. Check out our guides, ideas and tips here and get creative …

Of course, however the use of them at events depends on where the events are taking place. If they are outside in public or private spaces then you will need permission from the land owner (private) or you will need to apply for a street collection licence which can take up to a month to obtain. https://www.gov.uk/street-collection-licence. If they are in venues, then you will need permission from the venue owners. Contact us when you’re ready and we’ll sort you with tins!