2025 Chair's reflection

Our Chair and Founder, Greg Hewitt, shares his reflection below

Taking action on plastic has been something I wanted to do since 2009, when I watched a film about the Great Garbage Patch. This motivated me to join the Transition Town Network and from 2014, I started an annual festival called The Remarkable Recycling Gala, where local artists and makers could run a stall selling upcycled and recycled goods, alongside waste workshops, live music and food and drink. This then evolved into The Plastic Free Festival, which I ran when I moved to Chesterfield at the same time I joined Surfers Against Sewage’s Plastic Free Communities schemes. 

The main facts that would always deter me to take action in my local communities were that up to 12 million tonnes of plastic enter our oceans every year, and 100,000 marine mammals and 1 million mammals die from plastic pollution every year. I can’t ignore this information. And when I found out that the plastic industry is set to double production by 2050, I feel determined to act.

I was sent an ad by Vegan Camp Out one day, and I thought to myself, why is there Plastic Free Camp Out - or at least a conference that brings together people concerned about single-use plastic and plastic pollution… and that is where I thought up The Plastic Free Gathering - a one day summit of talks that brings together everyone concerned about plastic pollution and single-use plastics, to drive forward ambitious action on plastic. An event that would showcase ground breaking ideas and solutions with a programme full of discussions and case studies from those leading the change.

Thinking of speakers wasn’t too challenging, as I had carried out research and delivered public interviews in 2020 with some of the UK’s biggest Plastic Free organisations such as Greenpeace, City to Sea, Surfers Against Sewage and Everyday Plastic. When they received my invitation to speak at a national Gathering, they were delighted, and I’m really pleased and proud to have given these amazing organisations a platform to share their work with others. Further research led me to other incredible Plastic Free projects, and suddenly we had a full agenda!

This event really was my idea, and it really was just me organising a national conference! I did my best to sell tickets to the event and gain sponsorship. I felt so lucky when organisations like SESI and My Precious Earth stepped forward to offer sponsorship, along with organisations such as Circulayo and 2 Minute Foundation expressed their interest in exhibiting, all contributing to the costs of the event. 

Despite my anxiety on organising this huge event, over the months, attention seemed to really build and ticket sales started coming through! All of this led to the day itself - where people from across the country came through the doors of the Crowne Plaza Hotel Birmingham City Centre, and heard from incredibly inspiring Plastic Free changemakers. Thanks to some incredible volunteers - Josh, Karen and JW - the event was a huge success.

People left inspired and motivated, with new energy and connections, ready to take action on plastic in their own communities. Positive feedback flowed in, all expressing how useful it was to be a part of the attendance of the event. We’ll do some feedback again in a few months to find out further impact, but for now, the volunteers and myself have been left buzzing, and ready to organise another incredible event in Bristol in June next year!