PLASTIC bags could be banned from Chorlton as part of the fight to save the environment.

The district is set to become a plastic bag free zone next month after a campaign was launched by environmental group 'Sustainable Chorlton'.

To kick-start the campaign the group has asked 40 businesses to ditch disposable carriers from Saturday, December 15, and replace them with reusable bags.

Campaign director Helen Starr-Keddle said that so far there had been a fifty per cent uptake and they will now lobby other stores and supermarkets to adopt the policy in time for the launch.

She said plastic bags were one of Greater Manchester's most visible signs of environmental waste.

The campaign, called `Say No to Plastic Bags', is intended to stop bags being sent to landfill and raise awareness of their environmental impact.

Miss Starr-Keddle, 26, said: "All the scientific evidence suggests that some plastic bags take more than 500 years to break down once they have been sent to landfill.

Widespread

"Something has to be done to stop their widespread use and we decided to approach businesses in the town to ask them to only stock reusable bags.

"We are being told by some of the smaller stores that they will do this whenever possible but other traders are telling us that it is just not viable at the moment.

"The supermarket chains are telling us that the decision to stop stocking plastic bags lies with their head office.

"We will be out on the town's streets on Saturday, December 15 asking shoppers not to accept any more disposable bags from retailers and reminding them to take reusable bags when they go shopping."

The move follows a similar drive in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, where plastic bags were banned earlier this year after a campaign by residents.

They managed to get two-thirds of traders to sign up before it was launched in September.

Shops in the United Kingdom hand out 13 billion bags a year - more than ten a week for every household - most of which get sent to landfill.

Award-winning grocery store Unicorn, in Albany Road, Chorlton, was one of the first shops in the country to stock reusable jute bags.

"We have always taken the decision that it was necessary from an environmental perspective to keep the use of plastic carriers to a minimum," said Adam York, a spokesman for Unicorn.

"The jute bags we've stocked have always proved to be incredibly popular and it is interesting to hear from our customers that it only takes a short time before it becomes second nature to take them on shopping trips."

Other shops in Chorlton committed to stocking reusable shopping bags include: Frosts the butchers, Barbakan, Unicorn, Arkadash, Hurricane, Etchells, Chorlton Wholefoods and Chorlton Bookshop.

On Monday, Gordon Brown said he is considering cutting VAT on biodegradable or long-life carrier bags.

For more information about Sustainable Chorlton's campaign ring 0161 2270377.