PETA Offers To Show Tonbridge’S Residents The Benefits Of Going Vegan With Bins Bearing Eye-Catching Ads

For Immediate Release:
29 September 2011

Contact:
Sandra Smiley +44 (0) 207 357 9229, ext 229, [email protected]

Following reports that Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council will be distributing hundreds of fast-food vouchers as recycling incentives, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has sent a letter to the council’s Head of Waste, Phil Beddoes, requesting that ads be placed on the sides of area rubbish bins to remind people that eating meat is bad for their health and for the planet. The ad features a lovely Lettuce Lady and the words “Keep the Environment Clean: Bin Meat”. (A mock-up of the artwork is attached.)

A United Nations report summarised the devastation caused by the meat industry by calling it “one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global”. The council’s “Love Where You Live” initiative has also come under fire for rewarding residents from a town with an adult obesity rate of more than 25 per cent with free vouchers for fast-food restaurants.

“Many conscientious people are trying to help reduce climate change by driving more fuel-efficient cars and using energy-saving light bulbs, but they could do more simply by going vegan”, says PETA Special Projects Coordinator StopFortnumAndMasonFoieGrasCruelty.com. “The facts are absolutely clear: Eating meat is bad for human health, catastrophic for the environment and a living nightmare for animals.”

Like humans and the animals who share our homes, chickens, fish, cows, sheep and pigs feel pain and fear, yet they are abused in ways that would be illegal if dogs or cats were the victims. Chickens and turkeys often have their throats cut while they’re still conscious, and piglets have their tails and the tips of their teeth cut off without being given any painkillers.

The text of the letter is below.

Phil Beddoes
Head of Waste
Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council

Via e-mail
 
29 September 2011

Dear Mr Beddoes,

Having heard that your “Love Where You Live” initiative – which will see hundreds of Tonbridge’s residents handed free vouchers for fast-food restaurants – has come under fire, I am writing on behalf of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) to request that our eye-catching ads be placed on the sides of your borough’s rubbish bins. In the ads, a lovely lady decked out in lettuce leaves relays the message “Keep Your Environment Clean: Bin Meat”. With this ad, your council would send the positive message to its residents that the best way to keep the environment green and their bodies healthy – as well as help animals – is to stop eating meat.

Many Tonbridge residents have joined the millions of people around the world who are concerned about the environment and are trying to decrease their negative impact on it. The meat and dairy industries create monumental amounts of waste, and the United Nations has determined that raising animals for food is a leading cause of the world’s most pressing environmental problems, including land degradation, water shortages, water pollution and the loss of biodiversity.

In addition to being bad for the planet, meat and dairy products are bad for our bodies. The American Dietetic Association – the largest group of nutrition professionals in the US – reviewed hundreds of studies and concluded that compared to people who consume meat, vegetarians have lower rates of obesity, heart disease, diabetes and cancer. In a place like Tonbridge, where more than one-quarter of adults is reportedly clinically obese, it is of the utmost importance that people understand how these harmful foods negatively impact their health.

Of course, the meat and dairy industries also cause massive amounts of animal suffering. Like humans and the animals who share our homes, chickens, fish, cows, sheep and pigs feel pain and fear, yet they are abused in ways that would be illegal if dogs or cats were the victims. Chickens and turkeys often have their throats cut while they’re still conscious, piglets have their tails and the tips of their teeth cut off without being given any painkillers and mother cows have their calves stolen from them almost immediately after birth so that the milk meant for their calves can be sold.

By agreeing to our request to place PETA’s attention-grabbing ads on your rubbish bins, you could help get the message out to Tonbridge residents that the most effective way to “go green”, get healthy and help countless animals is to go vegan.

Sincerely yours,

StopFortnumAndMasonFoieGrasCruelty.com
Special Projects Coordinator
PETA