COUNCILLORS of wildly different political persuasions are backing a motion to crack down on Swindon’s plastic waste problem.

Swindon Borough Council will debate the idea of phasing out all single use plastics in its managed buildings within 12 months. Items such as cups, lids, bottles and plastic-lined cardboard are on the chopping block.

Next Thursday’s motion will also see councillors encourage the elimination of single-use plastic from its supply chain by 2021.

Conservative councillor Dale Heenan, who is proposing the motion, said: “The BBC Blue Planet programme did a great job in raising awareness of how plastics and litter affect wildlife and our oceans. With many companies taking action on disposable plastics, I believe it is time our Council did as well.

"Now is the perfect time for Councillors to say what we want to see in the new waste strategy for the town before it is published later this year.”

Following the debate, The Leader of the Council is expected to write to businesses such as Cineworld, Empire and GWR to request they also eliminate damaging plastics from their operations. Depending on a response from the Environment Secretary, there is also a chance Swindon could pilot a plastic deposit return scheme.

Mr Heenan added: “Swindon is a leader in producing Solar power, a leader in turning household waste into fuel instead of rubbish going to landfill. Hopefully agreement on a cross political party ban will help set Swindon on a path where we can proudly lead the country in becoming plastic free.”

Labour Councillor Matthew Courtliff is seconding the motion. He said: “I’ve very much got an eye on the future as well as the present. It’s one of the biggest questions of our generation. There are no jobs on a dead planet.

“You see all the plastic in the sea and it’s coming to the fore in popular discourse thanks to environmental campaign groups like Greenpeace. David Attenborough is a hugely influential figure and when people like him use their influence, they can make a huge difference.”

The national treasure tackled the issue of plastic waste in the final episode of Blue Planet 2, which aired last year. Crews involved in the series picked up every piece of plastic they came across while filming ocean wildlife.

Images from the programme highlighted the problem of wildlife becoming entangled in waste, as well as the high levels of industrial pollution caused by microplastics.

Under pressure to act, UK Parliament announced it would take steps to drastically reduce its consumption of single-use plastics in May.

Mr Courtliff added: “I never thought I’d be seconding a motion with Dale but it goes to show when you’ve got the same passion and agreement that party politics is put to one side and we can all work together for the right causes.”