Bayfield sits on the edges of Lake Huron, Ontario, and has a population of 1,112 people and is a community of Bluewater.
Image: @bayfieldontario
The area has already been designated a “Blue Community“, a project of the Council of Canadians, and have made massive strides to do away with plastic water bottles and install refillable stations.Through the Friends of Blue Bayfield Association, 2500 refillable bottles have been distributed and with the help of sponsors, 5 refill stations can be found in the village and over 30,000 refills have been undertaken at these sites!
Image: www.bluebayfield.ca
One man, Ray Letheren, a retired teacher from Toronto, has been involved heavily with these environmental movements – and has over 30 years of experience promoting “green”.
For instance, back in the 1990’s he was engaged in the Pesticide Free Ontario movement and worked hard for a number of years.
Ray and Paula Letheren. Image: @haliburtoncountyecho
People were leaving Lake Huron with itchy skin and dogs had to be shaved because of the atrocious amounts of e-coli and nitrate in the water.
Now, in 2018, there has been an outcry to refuse single use plastics.
Did you know that recent studies of the Great Lakes indicate that there are more than twice the pieces of plastics per square km in the Great Lakes than in the oceans???
Image: @loveyourgreats
The ocean has 220,000 pieces of plastic per square km on the surface – and the Great Lakes have 450,000 per square km on the surface…
This is a SCARY thought….
But seeing the trend toward plastic-free communities, Letheren undertook his newest project yet: to make the small community of Bayfield a PLASTIC FREE COMMUNITY (PFC).
In order to be recognized as a Plastic Free Community you must meet the 5 pillars below:
1. Governance – resolution from council or governing body
2. Engage businesses – commit to at least 3 plastic elimination
3. Alliances – engage community groups
4. Steering committee – council + business
5. Rallies – Two – cleanups forums speaking engagements
Congratulations to Blue Bayfield –the ONLY North American Plastic Free Community so far!
This Plastic Free Community movement has inspired 80% of Bayfield eateries to commit to eliminate ALL single-use plastics and polysterene – and this is just the beginning!
Although there are some complications with getting started, including at some locations using up the 2-year inventory of plastic products that have already been ordered, Letheren has attracted a lot of support.
We asked him: how can we keep people motivated and not lose hope in our fight against climate change and for healthy water & environment?
He said we need to take things in chewable bits with small and manageable steps and to surround yourself with people who care and are committed!
Would you fight to make your community plastic free?!
Way to go Bayfield! You rock! Love this place! Can’t wait for spring!
So excited to hear of this initiative and hoping that it will catch fire along the Lake Huron Shoreline. Another initiative in the Kincardine area has caught fire! Hundreds of homes are refusing to purchase and use cleaning products that are polluting our water systems. They are choosing to clean everything inside and outside their homes and farms with ENJO, Austria’s Fibre and water system. These homes are contributing to a zero carbon footprint through cleaning with water and not purchasing products packaged in plastics. Such an amazing system to see in action. Bravo everyone♥️
Cheers to our earth🌎💦
Refillable water stations seem like a wonderful idea. I’m curious to know how (and how often) they are cleaned. What keeps the spout bacteria-free and prevents cross-contamination between users?
Fantastic…now if all the municipalities would do the same, we might be able to clean up this place we call Earth…
Fantastic! Congratulations. Thank you to all those who made it happen. I look forward to using the water refill stations. You’ll be happy to know there are other towns in North America that are single use plastic free and also don’t allow plastic bags to be used in grocery stores and shops. Great Barington, Massachusetts is one of them and nearby towns are following by doing away with plastic bags. I hope Bayfields leadership in this area sparks and inspire near and far towns and cities to do the same. I’d live to see plastic wrapping- all forms of plastic to be elinated from packaging fir clothes, food, electronics etc. Hurray for Bayfield.
Fantastic! Congratulations. Thank you to all those who made it happen. I look forward to using the water refill stations. You’ll be happy to know there are other towns in North America that are single use plastic free and also don’t allow plastic bags to be used in grocery stores and shops. Great Barington, Massachusetts is one of them and nearby towns are following by doing away with plastic bags. I hope Bayfields leadership in this area sparks and inspire near and far towns and cities to do the same. I’d love to see plastic wrapping- all forms of plastic to be eliminated from packaging for clothes, food, electronics etc. Hurray for Bayfield.
You can recycle plastic I think people should take a hard look at styrofoam.how many tons go in the landfills. Their plans were to do away with plastic bags but instead they now charge you for them I find that wrong on all levels
I agree that styrofoam is another blight on the environment – but how do you stop manufacturers from packing with it? The same would apply to plastic bags which if you did not charge for them – to encourage using re-usable bags -it would make the abuse of them even worse. So I disagree – charging for plastic bags is one proven method to reduce that abuse. You might `hope` that enough people will voluntarily `do the right thing` – but economic principles are a much more effective way to force that. If anything – charge a lot more for plastic bags! That will quickly reduce their usage even more. The same could be applied to styrofoam – tax manufacturers who use it – they will quickly find alternatives! When any `good` is free (plastic or styrofoam garbage) – people will abuse it. Put a cost on it – and it will be treated like every other scarce resource – its consumption will be reduced – that is an economic principle that is proven. The recent complaints about a Carbon Tax is this exact same argument. If it is free to pollute – it will be abused. Put a cost on it – and people will find ways to reduce their consumption. People who only see it as another `tax` are uneducated or missing the bigger picture.
We SHOULD do away with single-use styrofoam! Maybe all styrofoam! But that doesn’t take away from the fact that plastic recycling is a joke (only 9% of plastics that we put in blue boxes actually gets recycled. It is often contaminated or there is no market to buy it. The other 91% goes to landfill, incinerator, our waterways, or is dropped as litter on the ground.) Producers need to be required to start using less plastic packaging. Charging more for plastic bags encourages consumers to bring their own, which is a small but positive step.
Great initiative, Bayfield, on becoming a “plastic free community”!
Reblogged this on forourgrandkids and commented:
A group of dedicated citizens are working hard towards this in Belleville, Ont
This sounds fantastic. Good on you.
Funnily enough, I had just posted to a second cousin in Canada that I remember well walking way out on a frozen Lake Huron in Winter 1963/4.
I think it’s a good idea for those who drink water. The amount of plastic in our lakes are due to people if we can change people all would be good but my guess is that people wont change because they dont care as long as it’s not in their yard
This is a great idea and a solid first step to improve the environment and the lake. The quality of the lake water is a critical issue for all of the communities along Lake Huron – and it is encouraging to hear and see the publicity and get the general public awareness in the media. Not to take away from this – another step to improve the quality of lake water is to understand why there are still very high levels of contaminants in the beach water following heavy rains! The contaminant levels are only being monitored and reported on later, with dangerously high contaminant readings. This is a serious health concern that also needs to be addressed – what are the various causes – what can be done to improve on this also. I would hope bringing this to the general public`s attention will also make it a priority for local Government to investigate and resolve.
good for you Bayfield
Excited to hear back home in Bayfield they are taking a stand to reduce & eliminate plastic. In Europe, they use a plastics that are biodegradable…..made with plant based materials. Too bad we didn’t start these initiatives sooner!