Selkirk Will Be Plastic Bag Free

On Friday 4th April at Midday, Selkirk in the Scottish Borders will officially become Plastic Bag Free. Organisers will be giving away free fair-trade, recycled, cotton shopping bags to traders and shoppers as a gesture of thanks to the town for their positive support of this initiative and for helping to make Selkirk the first Plastic Bag Free town in Scotland.

Posters advising shoppers and visitors that Selkirk is Plastic Bag Free will go up in all of the participating shops and businesses around the Royal and Ancient Burgh. The shopping bag and the poster have been printed in the town’s traditional colours of true blue and scarlet.

Of the town’s 108 shops and businesses, only four premises have chosen not to participate in the campaign. Organisers hope that in time they too will join this swell of public concern and opinion.

Of the rest, another 12 shops have pledged their full support and will provide environmentally friendly alternatives once their current stocks of plastic bags have run out.

This means that over 96% of Selkirk’s traders are committed to a Plastic Bag Free town.

Selkirk and its traders and shoppers should be rightly proud of this moment. We have become the first Plastic Bag Free town in Scotland. Selkirk is leading the way in the effort to respect the environment and look after our countryside. In our small way we are making a difference.