SHOPPERS in Uffculme are being urged to hand back packaging at supermarket tills to highlight how much, campaigners say, is unnecessarily wrapped in plastic.

Plastic Free Uffculme is joining communities across the UK to raise awareness of avoidable, throwaway plastic and to put pressure on industry to take more responsibility for what is distributed.

Organised as part of Surfers Against Sewage’s Plastic Free Communities campaign, the purpose of the ‘Mass Unwrap’ is to show the high levels of plastic packaging on food and to use people power to call for change. It is one of a number of actions the group in Uffculme is taking as it tries to reduce the impact of single use plastic in the area, such as working with local businesses, community groups and schools.

In a week of ‘National Mass Unwrap’ action by Surfers Against Sewage in March, customers chose to hand back up to nine pieces of plastic a minute. Their action called for producers to reduce and redesign packaging, take more responsibility for the end life of packaging and to stop using virgin plastic.

‘Mass Unwraps’ are held over a two-hour period and in that time customers shop and pay as normal. When they move away from the till they can then visit a ‘Mass Unwrap’ volunteer, who will help them take any unnecessary plastic packaging from their purchases and put it in a trolley for recycling or disposal. Counting up the items of plastic as they go, volunteers also gather evidence to show the scale of wrapping used.

Delia Kennedy, lead volunteer for the event, said: “We hope it will be a really busy morning – we have plenty of amazing volunteers who would love to keep very busy talking to people as well as helping them with the ‘Unwrap’.

“We are also hoping people might contribute by giving us their thoughts and ideas about the plastic issue.”

The ‘Mass Unwrap’ is on Saturday (October 12) from 10am-noon at the Co-op in the Village Square.

A coffee morning will be held in Square Corner with further information about Surfers Against Sewage’s Plastic Free Communities campaign and a chance to contribute your thoughts about the plastic problem.