Going Green in Cockermouth
This webpage is designed to help people shop green and support local traders who are working hard to run their business in an environmentally- friendly way. Many people locally are offering sustainable green products and we hope this list will keep growing!
It is hard to avoid plastic when shopping, but by providing a hub and information on where to find things, we hope this will be a useful community resource.
When you’re out shopping remember to:
- Bring your own bags
- Bring your own Tupperware boxes for meat and fish
- Ask your favourite shops to get rid of single-use plastic bags
- Avoid packaged food with excess plastic
- Bring your own water bottle
Background to this group
In 2018 a group of people met together voluntarily out of the desire to help the environment and with the aim of reducing plastic use in Cockermouth. This included people working at from Wordsworth House (National Trust), Riversmeet, West Cumbria Friends of the Earth and Cumbria County Council.
It was so encouraging to have lots of enthusiasm and support from local people and traders and we kicked off with raising awareness, talking to traders about not supplying single-use plastic bags and running free workshops making recycled textile bags.
We ran a competition for local children to design posters for shops to display when they committed to having no single-use plastic bags. Additionally, our local butchers and fishmongers said they were happy to supply customers with their own meat and fish in their own tupperware containers, reducing plastic waste.
We are grateful that Cockermouth Town Council provided a grant for these initiatives and all the organisations involved have committed resources and time in kind to support this.
Additional links:
West Cumbria and North Lakes Friends of the Earth – foe-wcumbria@hotmail.co.uk
Climate Emergency West Cumbria – CEWC_general@googlegroups.com