THE MP for Bracknell has had afternoon tea with the Crowthorne Reduce Our Waste group in order to celebrate their achievements.

Dr Phillip Lee met with parish councillor James Kay and members of the Crowthorne group at Beaton’s Tearooms.

The Crowthorne Reduce Our Waste group (CROW) have campaigned for the last 18 months to reduce the amount of single-use plastics that are used on the High Street.

The campaign to reduce the impact that plastic has on the environment was set up by local resident Georgie Morris, after she became frustrated by the amount of disposable plastics in her weekly shop.

Her call out on the Facebook Group We Love Crowthorne Village led to the group renaming themselves to CROW.

The campaign resulted in Crowthorne being the first town in Berkshire to join the network of communities to receive the prestigious Plastic Free Community Status by the ocean environmental group Surfers Against Sewage.

Phillip Lee was full of praise for what they have already achieved.

He said: “I think everybody realises they consume a lot of plastic packaging, but where CROW have been so successful is in finding ways that it can be reduced without affecting the products or the shoppers.

“They still have so many ideas and I look forward to being able to help them as they take the next steps.”

Georgie believes it was useful to speak to the MP about the work the group does.

She added: ‘’It was good to speak to Dr Phillip Lee about our work. We believe that everyone can make a difference in the face of climate change and the excesses of waste that our culture encourages.

“However, there are changes that need to come from legislation and real action from the top. We were encouraged that Phillip Lee is supportive of this and hope to see some further changes from our government soon.’’

The group are now looking at where further reductions in waste can be achieved and whether they can extend their winning formula to surrounding communities.