The village of Bayfield is the first Plastic Free Community in North America.
Ray Letheren was instrumental in making Bayfield a Blue Community in 2015 with a goal of eliminating single-use water bottles in the village.
He recently heard about a group called Surfers Against Sewage, which started the Plastic Free Communities program after witnessing the increase in plastic bottles washing ashore in their community in Cornwall, England.
Letheren learned from the British group that one of the stipulations to earn the new designation was that the beach had to be cleaned regularly, which was already happening along the Lake Huron shoreline.
Bayfield beach cleanup (Photo courtesy of Ray Letheren of Bayfield)
They also had to get a declaration from the local council, and Bluewater council passed a resolution supporting their efforts to become a Plastic-Free Community.
The use of plastic straws has disappeared in village restaurants, and single-use plastic is on its way out.
Letheren adds it's not realistic to expect to completely eliminate plastic but their mandate is to at least attempt to reduce its use as much as possible.
(Photo courtesy of Ray Letheren of Bayfield)
