Axminster is getting behind this year's Plastic Free July campaign, an initiative of the Plastic Free Foundation that originally started in Australia in 2011 and has now spread worldwide.

One of its core values is that "small changes add up to a big difference", so how about resolving to further reduce your 'consumption' of single-use plastic packaging? Start with baby steps and gradually build on the small wins.

Recycling plastic does not solve the problem and we simply have to try harder for the planet than just adopting an "I'm doing my bit because I recycle all my plastic, therefore it's fine to carry on using more" state of mind. Sadly, this is only playing into the hands of the big companies and in all probability shifting the responsibility onto another country.

Plastic Free Axminster offers many suggestions, via its social media pages and website, as to how we, the consumers, can show our concern and make a stand, from picking up 'naked' fruit and veg, ditching single-use plastic bottles for refillable stainless steel ones, refusing single-use bags, carrying a reusable coffee cup, to ridding our lives of wet wipes by switching to reusable, washable cloths, to name but a few.

Head over to our website to find more simple swaps on our website https://plasticfreeaxminster.org, our Instagram plasticsavvyaxminster or our Facebook page.

DEFRA, the Department for the Environment, Food & Rural Affairs Committee, called for a ban on all exports of UK plastic waste by the end of 2027 and for the government to publish a roadmap this year on how to achieve this.

The UK exports around 60% of the over 2.5 million tonnes of plastic packaging waste it creates. That will be an additional 10 million tonnes of it choking the environment before this happens.

The committee heard alarming accounts of British plastic waste being dumped and burned in Turkey, causing "irreversible and shocking" environmental and human health impacts. The report is available here.

So, for the rest of 2023 and beyond, which characteristics will you adopt with regard to plastic and our planet? Will it be those of an ostrich (head buried in the sand hoping it will all go away), a lemming (someone else's problem and heading for the cliff edge) or a meerkat (always on the lookout to make eco improvements to a lifestyle)? It is down to individual choice!