Just Say No!

Angie Macdonald talks to Monica Mcsherry about community and going Green in East Dulwich.
Leave your comment to take part in the prize draw.

There’s a silent revolution going on in East Dulwich. Shoppers in Lordship Lane have been seen carrying groceries in bags brought from home instead of the usual plastic bags. Some traders have begun distributing free hessian bags to their customers and others have started charging for plastic bags.

The force behind this “revolution” is Monica Mcsherry, co-owner of Health Matters in Lordship Lane. Together with Marilyn Donahue, she is the organiser of the East Dulwich SNUB (Say No to Unwanted Plastic Bags) campaign.

SNUB is a campaign to encourage people to use environmentally friendly cotton or hessian bags instead of discardable plastic bags. It also aims to raise awareness about recycling plastic waste and educate people about eco-friendly lifestyle choices.

“The idea originally came about on the East Dulwich Forum,” says Monica.

“Someone planted the seed about cloth bags and I just watered it. I’ve always been passionate about the environment. As a trader I see the amount of plastic bags distributed and it’s just ridiculous. We wanted to see if we could reduce plastic bag consumption in East Dulwich.”

Monica and her brother, Rob Carrozzo, founded Health Matters in July 2000 and since then Monica has become an established part of the East Dulwich community, organising traders and campaigning on community issues. “There’s a really good community spirit,” she says. “All the shops come together to talk about issues. An example is the issue of parking in bus lanes. We all came together and fought it and won!” [Drivers can now park in the bus lane during off peak hours (weekdays) and all day Saturday.]

What Monica likes about East Dulwich is the “diversity, the mixture of people. You’ve got different cultures, different classes, views and attitudes. It’s a great big ethnic melting pot!”

Since the first SNUB campaign in the Devon town of Modbury in April 2007, communities across the UK have been clamouring to have their own SNUB campaigns. “We aimed to be the first place in London,” says Monica, who started the East Dulwich campaign in May 2007. Since then she has been approached by many other communities wanting tips and information on how to set up their own local SNUB campaign.

The East Dulwich SNUB campaign has seen a lot of community participation and support. Goodrich Primary School organised a competition to design the bags and the winning design was announced at the Winter Green Fair on December 1st. Southwark Council are funding the project and Councillor Richard Thomas has been very supportive and involved in the campaign.

The ultimate aim of the East Dulwich campaign is to distribute two bags – one cotton and one hessian – per household in the SE22, Dulwich and College wards. Altogether approximately 8,500 households in the area will receive the bags, hopefully by the summer.

Another aim is to replace plastic carrier bags in Lordship Lane shops with bio-degradable bags. The majority of plastic bags end up in landfill sites where they can often take hundreds of years to break down. They have also resulted in the death of wildlife, who mistake the bags for food, and are a major polluter of the natural environment.

“People [in Dulwich] have really embraced the green issue,” Monica says. “The recycling office at Southwark Council has been inundated with calls from people wanting to know what more they can do to recycle. Shoppers are carrying their own bags and people are becoming more aware. But what we’re doing is a drop in the ocean and everybody needs to do their bit.”

Monica’s Top Eco Tips:
Try to recycle as much as possible
Try not to ask for plastic bags when you go shopping – take your own bag from home.

Prize Draw:
Health Matters have very kindly donated a water butt and two Solgar hessian bags with the book, “Saving the Planet Without Costing the Earth” by Donnachadh McCarthy included, for a prize draw. Leave a comment at the bottom of this article about what you are doing to help the environment and we’ll pick three commenters at random to receive one of Monica’s prizes. The closing date for the prize draw is Monday 31st March 2008. Please note that the water butt will have to be collected from Monica at the Health Matters shop.

To take part in the prize draw, leave a reply below about what you are doing to help the environment.

For the rules of the prize draw, see Rule of the Just Say No prize draw.

Photo: Monica Mcsherry, Marilyn Donahue and Cllr Richard Thomas holding designs from Goodrich Primary School for the new bag