A grandmother who has waged a ten-year protest against a planned incinerator by collecting plastic tops from bottles and jars has amassed more than 1,000 of them.
Eco-warrior Johanna Oates, 74, decided to start keeping the colourful tops from household goods such as shampoo, milk, mayonnaise, soap, pickles and coffee. The retired nurse wanted to show much a normal household uses, to highlight the need to recycle and protest against a proposed incinerator in St Dennis, Cornwall.
Johanna, of St Austell, Cornwall, began collecting the tops in 2003 and has now reached the 1,000 mark – collecting an average of one every three days. Her huge collection now fills dozens of large glass jars and is so big she's had to move the entire hoard to the garage. The grandmother of six said: ''I didn't want to see them go to landfill. Plastic will be there for thousands of years. Plastic is wonderful stuff but it is made from oil and we should treat it more precisely. We must recycle."
Controversial Cornwall Council plans for a £117 million incinerator have been ongoing for years.
