Our town's Eco Icon Cong Bear has had a few ideas whilst in lockdown on how he can help with the world's plastic problem.

It's truly heart-breaking to see the huge volume of plastic that ends up in landfill or worse in rivers, lakes and the oceans.

Cong Bear has had an idea that he wants to pitch to the people of Congleton, which involves large bears being erected at different places in and around the town.

These bears would consist of a possible wire mesh outer layer; where they would then be filled up with lots of plastic bottles, and then once filled they would potentially have an outer plaster coating, which could be painted by local artists, school children and businesses.

So, the plastic bottles will not end up in any landfill, they will be encased inside the bears and kept there.

The bears would put our little town on the map for our efforts in recycling and they would also be a tourist attraction which will bring people into the town after these uncertain times have passed.

We have already had great feedback over the Cong Bear videos and people saying they would like to visit Congleton.

So, let Cong Bear create a real Beartown that is everything he stands for:

1. Environment
2. Wildlife
3. Inclusiveness, no matter what your gender, race, skin colour or class in society is.
4. Eco friendly

Another idea discussed behind the scenes is The Pottery Bears, there is merchandise of these, similar to Cong Bear.

This includes T-shirts, mugs, bags etc, which are available at the Tourist Information Centre.

We were thinking that this could be done on a smaller scale; Pottery Bears, painted in various colours and put in shop windows in businesses all around Congleton, that will bring people into the town to find each and every one of them, so the more businesses and places that have them, the better it will be of an event and it wouldn't take up as much space as larger bears.

If there are any businesses or shops, schools, charities etc that are interested in this, please contact myself, Sharon Neild, you can find me on Congleton News and Views Facebook Group or Shop Congleton Facebook Group.