LOCAL grower, John Davenport has been praised by the Ledbury Food Group for trying to minimise the use of single-use plastic.

The praise comes as the Food Group looks to ways of making Ledbury a plastic free town, perhaps by creating a "hub" for local businesses, where alternative packaging can be sourced.

A Food Group spokesman said: "If we look to our local food growers, they are doing their best to provide their high quality produce in sustainable packaging, and not use single-use plastic – not always an easy task.

"At Flights Orchard Farm and through The Little Marcle Farm Shop, John tries to minimise the use of single-use plastic for his organic produce."

Mr Davenport added: “If we don’t need to pack anything, we don’t! At the shop customers choose their organic fruit and vegetables, pay for it, and take it home in their own bags.

"When preparing our fruit and veg boxes for home delivery, the majority of the products go straight into the green cardboard boxes, which come from a sustainable source."

The business does still use plastic bags for salads, greens and soft fruits "because they keep the product fresh".

But Mr Davenport said: "Naturally the shorter the gap between the produce being picked and it reaching the customer, the less reliant we are on such packaging.

"To support my strong environmental friendly philosophy, I have recently acquired an electric van for delivering to my veg box customers, retailers and other deliveries. It does mean that I can cover my delivery area with zero environmental impact.”