By William Coleman
In the news and on social media recently you may have seen some public unrest over the choice McDonald’s made to remove all plastic straws from their branches to help reduce the increasing wave of plastic pollution. Now it seems the world is embracing this eco spirit as one site bans the plastic straw to stop further damage to the environment.
I think by now we have all seen the images and videos animals in the world who have been killed due to the plastic straw. Following the recent shift in straw usage Trevornick Holiday Park in Holywell Bay are encouraging guests to join them in going green this year.
The five-star family caravan and campsite, located behind the sand dunes at Holywell Bay, was the first in Newquay to install Oltco walkways made from a combination of recycled plastic drink bottles, food packaging and straws.
Being fully aware of the impact they have with their usage of plastic, the area surrounding the pool used the equivalent of nearly 100,000 straws alone, they are now taking a stand to do all they can to reduce their plastic usage.
This sustainable re-use of materials can be seen throughout the business as they continue to increase their efforts in becoming even more environmentally friendly.
The park has joined the Final Straw campaign, replacing plastic straws in the three onsite bars with paper alternatives.
Staff also organise their own beach cleans on Holywell Bay to ensure the location and its wildlife remain unharmed by plastic waste, whilst also encouraging guests to adopt this mindset and asking them to leave the beach as they find it.
“We are so lucky to live in such a beautiful part of the world and it is our responsibility to ensure it remains this way,” said Trevornick Park Manager Adrian Tribe.
“We have all benefited from the increase in tourism as a result of hit TV shows like BBC’s Poldark much of which was filmed at Holywell Bay and we feel we have a duty to highlight the dangers of single use plastic and its effect on our beautiful coastline.
“This year we have introduced initiatives such as the ‘Drop & Swap’ station where guests can leave their beach toys and bodyboards to reduce this type of waste, as well as joining the ‘Re-Fill’ app which highlights locations nearby where people can fill up their water bottles,” he added.
Other measures the park are taking to reduce their single use plastic waste and improve their recycling capabilities includes easy access to recycling points throughout the campsite for camping and touring guests and trialling recycling waste such as crisp packets and bottle tops which aren’t widely recycled and can be made into things such as children’s play parks.
