We can all do our bit to reduce plastic use
This is Plastic Free July.
You can help tackle the plastics crisis. If we all do our bit we can turn the tide on plastic pollution.
The UK produces more plastic waste than any other country apart from the US.
Our natural world can’t cope with this.
What we can all do:
• Choose to use your own water bottle, preferably metal, and enjoy our good, free Scottish water, not water extracted and transported from miles away, then bottled in plastic and shrink-wrapped in plastic. And look out for a deposit-return bottle scheme which is coming soon – at last – to Scotland.
• Choose to refill. All Things Fair on Blair High Street offers refills of their household cleaning products and toiletries, which means fewer empty plastic bottles.
• Choose to use your own coffee cup. Local cafes usually give a discount on your drink if you don’t want a takeaway cup.
• Choose to use your own shopping bag, avoiding plastic altogether. Better still, make your own with a £2 Mors bag kit from Nest in the Wellmeadow which uses ready-cut recycled fabrics and provides a sewing guide.
• Take part in a litter pick, or do your own.
Plastic is a by-product of fossil fuels – oil and gas. It is one of the main causes of the climate crisis and can only be recycled a few times. A plastic bottle will take about 500 – 1000 years to degrade.
You can find further information online at www. plasticfreejuly.org and by checking out the useful advice from these groups: www. wasteless.zerowastescotland.org.uk, www.mcsuk.org and www.plasticfreeschools.org.uk Blairgowrie, Rattray and District Climate Cafe
Walkfor Parkinson’s Dear Editor
People across Scotland can now sign up to Walk for Parkinson’s to help fund vital support for people affected by the condition – and, this
year, you can also take part virtually.
Charity Parkinson’s UK has launched its annual Walk for Parkinson’s series, which was cancelled in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
This year, there are three ways to take part:
• Join one of our socially distanced organised walks;
• Walk for Parkinson’s 66-mile challenge – complete 66 miles of walking in July;
• Walk for Parkinson’s Your Way – walk two or six miles wherever you are over September 25 and 26.
The money raised will help transform the way the charity offers information and support to people with Parkinson’s, and the people in their lives.
This year, thanks to the Frank and Evelyn Brake Connect Fund, sponsorship will be matched pound for pound, doubling the impact for people affected by Parkinson’s.
Parkinson’s is the fastest growing neurological condition in the world, and currently there is no cure.
In the UK, there are 145,000 people already living with Parkinson’s, including approximately 12,400 in Scotland.
There are over 40 symptoms of Parkinson’s from tremor and pain to anxiety, but the condition affects everyone differently.
In Perth and Kinross, one of the organised walks is taking place at Scone Palace from 11am on Sunday, October 10.
This year, there will also be two virtual walking challenges – ‘Walk for Parkinson’s 66 mile challenge’ and ‘Walk for Parkinson’s Your Way’.
With ‘Walk for Parkinson’s Your Way’, you choose your own course, when you do it and who you walk with over the weekend of September 25 and 26.
Last year there was so much we couldn’t do, and living in lockdown was difficult and lonely for many of us.
For many people with Parkinson’s, their symptoms got worse.
Visit www.parkinsons.org. uk for more information on how to take part.