Gainsborough MP proud to see town leading the fight against plastic

Coveris is one of the most recent manufacturers to sign up to the 2025 Plastics Pact, in the wake of the heightened awareness of the need both to reduce dependency on plastic and to increase our ability to recycle it.

The pact is an initiative to coordinate businesses across the world of plastic production, packaging, and recycling alongside the Government and NGOs to reduce plastic waste.

During my visit I learned that Coveris has introduced a new sustainability strategy called Pack Positive which it aims to implement across the entire business.

We’ve all had to deal with excessive packaging sometime during our lives, so I’m very pleased to hear that Coveris is one of the businesses committed to eliminating problematic or unnecessary packaging.

This can be done through redesigning the packaging, innovation, or finding alternative delivery models.

In any case, the plastics involved should be reusable, and if not that then recyclable, and if not that then at least suitable for composting.

For example, Coveris has developed plastic films that are 70 per cent less thick but still deliver the same level of functionality and freshness.

The cumulative reduced weight also reduces the carbon footprint by requiring less fuel to transport.

Innovations such as these show private industry’s commitment to ensuring better environmental outcomes that also save money for businesses, consumers, and taxpayers alike.

I am proud to have a company like Coveris in my constituency.

While we can write a bottomless list of the wonderful things we associate with our county – beautiful scenery, medieval churches, the history of the RAF, and a flourishing farming sector to name just some – Lincolnshire sausages rank pretty highly amongst the county’s most famous exports.

I was very glad to hear of another successful year celebrating these tasty products at the Lincoln Sausage Festival.

At this event, organised by the Rotary Club, locals and visitors alike had the pleasure of tasting some splendid examples, alongside cooking demonstrations, stalls exhibiting some of Lincolnshire’s finest food products, as well as live music.

This event has been going for I think well over a decade now and I commend the efforts of the Rotary Club in putting together what has evolved into a delicious addition to the annual calendar.

The contribution of volunteers is essential to making our towns, villages, county, country, and world a better place.

I was greatly encouraged to learn of the new initiative organised by members of staff at Tesco’s in Market Rasen to help senior shoppers.

On the first Thursday morning of every month the store organises a free coffee morning so that pensioners doing their weekly shopping can get a bit of socialising in too.

I salute this effort wholeheartedly, and I hope others around Lincolnshire and across England will be inspired by this.