A Falmouth fish and chip shop has become the town's first business to become 'plastic free' since the start of lockdown.
Gem Fish and Chips in Quarry Hill is owned and run by Helen and Dominic Kurdyla, who have removed removed polystyrene chip trays and replaced them with cardboard, replaced plastic cutlery with wooden cutlery and have replaced plastic bags with paper bags.
Helen said: "Over the 18 years of living in a beautiful coastal town, I've seen the difference in plastic population - unfortunately for the worse.
"Although single-use plastic cannot be totally eradicated at The Gem, we are doing our best to make positive changes, wherever possible."
When purchasing condiments, she 'buys big' and then decants into smaller containers/dispensers, re-using the larger containers for other things in the shop.
Egg trays get recycled or sent to a local farm to be used, pickle jars are given away and re-used by customers and food is made fresh to order, resulting in no waste.
Helen added: "Buying local where possible saves on emissions from transport and travel. Once the product has been used, the packaging gets repurposed into storage boxes, cleaning bowls and cardboard boxes are used for takeaway orders to be taken away in.
"Cling film has been replaced with foil. Plastic containers have been reduced with help from aluminium dishes/lids. We no longer have polystyrene trays.
"Behind the scenes, the immense paperwork for the Gem is sorted electronically rather than 'hard copies', where possible."
The chip shop has been praised by the Plastic Free Falmouth campaign, which encourages businesses and organisations in the town to become 'plastic free champions'.
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