Careless drivers are being blamed for dumping hundreds of plastic gloves around a Swindon petrol station. The Keep Swindon Tidy group worked with a local branch of Sainsbury’s in an effort to minimise the mess around the forecourt and nearby hedges. The Apple Green petrol station near St Mark’s Recreation Ground in Gorse Hill solved the waste issue by moving the glove containers indoors, which led to less littering and created less plastic and thus less plastic pollution by also reducing the use of the gloves.
Taking inspiration from this, the campaigners asked the supermarket staff to trial a similarly eco-friendly change at Bridgemead, and the chain agreed to do so. However, it proved to be only a temporary change and things reverted back to the way they were before in response to negative feedback from motorists. A Keep Swindon Tidy spokesperson said: “[We] work to clean up Swindon, including dealing with the causes of littering and fly-tipping.
“Across Swindon there is a lot of littering of the single-use plastic gloves which are provided for customers at petrol stations. “Recently we asked Bridgemead Sainsbury’s to emulate the approach of the Apple Green petrol station. They agreed to trial this system.
“Sadly, some of Sainsbury’s petrol station customers complained about the lack of convenience and the gloves were moved back outside. “We found hundreds of these gloves littered in the surrounding area at Bridgemead, polluting and disrupting nature.” T.
