THE organisers of Eat:Burnham-on-Sea have announced that they will be banning the use of single-use plastics at both of their festivals this year.

Beverley and Sarah Milner Simonds have been working with producers and waste partners to reduce the impact of the festival environment and have come up with 24 sustainability goals which they hope will make a positive difference.

These include choosing local produce that is not packaged, banning the use of single use plastics and plastic serve ware and replacing it with biodegradable alternatives and installing water refill points across the festival site.

Sarah, said: "Eat:Festivals has an environmental impact; requiring transport, energy, water, materials, and producing waste and generating emissions.

"They have a lasting social impact on the local communities.

"We have an opportunity, through our festivals, to inspire visitors through a raised awareness of environmental and sustainability matters; sharing our management decisions on reducing our environmental impact in partnership with our crew, our sponsors, local authorities, suppliers and traders is one way.

"By influencing the way we all feed ourselves, we can influence the impact we have on the world, so that’s what we hope to do through our festivals."

The festival organisers have been working with a sustainability auditor to ensure their goals are being met at this year's festivals and will ensure that any packaging at the festival will clearly show how it can be reused or recycled.

Tatiana Cant, clerk at Burnham and Highbridge Town Council, said the council supports the move.

"Burnham & Highbridge Town Council is extremely encouraged by the Eat: Festivals team’s responsible approach to packaging materials used at their events as well as other environmental factors they have taken into consideration," Ms Cant said.

"They have created ambitious but realistic sustainability goals which also reflect the aims of the town council which has signed up to support the national Plastic Free Coastline campaign.

"This is a great example to set to other local businesses as we all work together towards a cleaner and healthier town and coastline."

Eat: Burnham will be held in Burnham town centre on May 26 and October 27 and is free to attend.

For more information visit http://www.eatfestivals.org.