A SWINDON café has welcomed the government’s proposals to tackle plastic pollution, with a range of measures already underway to ensure that they are ahead of the curve.

Old town juice bar The Core has started looking at introducing reusable straws and cups, reducing its landfill waste and raising public awareness as it looks to do its bit for the environment.

Kris Talikowski, the owner of the business, said: “We’d like to lead the way for other businesses in Swindon in reducing our waste.”

“We want to show that a few simple changes can make a huge difference to the environment, and also to people’s consciousness.

“It’s about making the whole supply chain conscious of the need to become more environmentally friendly.”

Theresa May announced a range of proposals in a speech in London yesterday, as part of a 25-year plan to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste. She also pledged that the current generation in the UK would be the first to leave the natural world in a better state.

But at The Core, staff are already putting measures in place to ensue their footprint is constantly reducing, with general landfill waste already reduced to a minimum, and all plastics used in the café recyclable.

For materials used in their ‘juice programmes’ which cannot be recycled, more creative ways of making sure nothing goes to waste have been thought up.

Kris said: “The plastic bottles we use in our programmes – around 120 to 150 every morning – can’t be reused, but we’ve started donating them to the children’s scrap store.”

And it is not only plastics which they are looking to cut down on, with regular customers even seeing disposable paper bags replaced with permanent wooden crates to take away their juices in.

The next steps include involving their loyal base of customers, harnessing social media to raise awareness of the need to cut down on waste, and to ensure that the measures they take will prove popular.

Kris said: “We have just put up a picture with four different types of straws on our Facebook page – recycled plastic straws, paper straws, glass straws and bio-straws – and we have asked people what they think we should use.

“We are now moving towards a good quality paper straw.

“Our next step is encouraging people to bring in re-usable cups and straws.

“People get used to it. Potentially, if people drink out a lot, they love the idea of having a straw they can carry around and re-use.”

The only policy change implemented immediately following Mrs May’s speech is the extension of a 5p carrier bag charge to include smaller shops. The move brings England in line with Wales and Scotland.

Other measures to be consulted on include a charge for plastic takeaway boxes, encouraging supermarkets to introduce plastic-free isles, and funding research into “plastics innovation”.