A COMPANY fighting the war on plastic has launched a bring your own lunchbox campaign.

Wriggle, the food discovery app based in Brighton, Bristol and Cardiff, began the initiative to fight plastic packaging.

It is encouraging customers to take their own containers to cafes and places that sell food to take away to cut down on single-use takeaway packaging.

Wriggle Founder, Rob Hall, says: “It is the responsibility of each and every one of us to lessen the damaging effects our daily habits are having on the environment.

“The BYO Lunchbox campaign is just one of the ways you can start making a difference.

“We are delighted with the response we have had from local businesses and the public, and we’d love to push the project to as many UK cities as we can.”

More than 40 businesses across Brighton and Bristol had already agreed to the initiative before the launch.

Those taking part have a sticker in their window to let customers and passers-by know they can go in and fill up their container.

Green Party MP for Brighton Pavilion Caroline Lucas said: “The BYO Lunchbox campaign is a great initiative shown by a local business and I urge all Brighton businesses and residents to get involved.

“By doing something as simple as taking along your own lunchbox you could help to reduce the amount of single-use waste ending up in our oceans.

“This exciting project takes Brighton one step closer to becoming a plastic-free city.”

Staff at Wriggle have said the new initiative was born out of their reaction to reports on the impact of plastic pollution around the world.

They recently shared statistics showing that every year, about 150 million tonnes of single-use plastic is produced globally, and more than eight million tonnes of this ends up in the sea.

The company said according to a recent report it discovered, out of the two million tons of plastic produced in the UK in a year, just under 45 per cent of this was collected for recycling and the rest was sent to landfill or burnt.

It released figures detailing the impact of plastic pollution:

l The total amount of plastic ever made – 8.3 billion tonnes

l Every piece of plastic ever made still exists – and will continue existing for at least 500 years

l The total amount of plastic waste produced that has been recycled – nine per cent

l Percentage of the world’s oceans surfaces that are covered in plastic waste – 40 per cent

l If no action is taken plastic waste will outweigh all marine life by 2050

l Pieces of micro-plastic in the ocean – 51 trillion particles (one rubbish truckload is added each minute)

l Amount of micro-plastics ingested by humans each year from seafood – 11,000 fragments.

Wriggle encourages people to support local businesses when eating out.

But it thinks it is responsibilty of all businesses to find ways of reducing the impact on the environment.

According to Wriggle’s research, on average, 75 per cent of the British public buy their lunch each day rather than bringing in a packed lunch.

They said if every individual switched to a reusable lunchbox could, the public could save 270 pieces of single-use packaging every year.

As part of the launch, Wriggle is also releasing an eco-friendly bamboo lunchbox that’s completely plastic-free, high quality and will be sold at cost price. You can buy them from Hisbe in York Place, Brighton, for £5

Among the cafes taking part are Time For Kimchi in Church Street, Brighton; Lost In The Lanes in Nile Street, Foodylic in North Street, Brighton, and Harriet’s of Hove in Blatchington Road.

Smorl’s Houmous Falafel and Salad Bar in the Open Market in Marshalls Row, Brighton, is a popular “Wriggle lunch-hour favourite”.

The Wriggle team hand pick the venues on its app and website to make sure that they feature good quality food and drink. To find out more information visit www.getawriggleon.com. You can download the free app from your app store.