MORE THAN 300 Sidmouth Green Bags are now in circulation following their launch by the town's Lions Club last December.

MORE THAN 300 'Sidmouth Green Bags' are now in circulation following their launch by the town's Lions Club last December.

Nearly £1,000 has been raised by donations from residents for the bags and all will be used to pay for new bags.

Lions' spokesman Chris Rignall said an average of £2.85 has been placed into the collecting tins for each bag taken. The cost to produce the bags was around £3.

Although the Lions were pleased with the town's response in the first two months since the launch of the cotton canvas shopping bags, Mr Rignall said much still needed to be done to make a real impact on the harm caused by plastic carrier bags.

The Sidmouth Green Bag has been made specifically with grocery shopping in mind. The bags are light, easy to carry, an ideal size for every shopping trip and can be washed. But he said few were regularly being taken to supermarkets and greengrocers, where most plastic carrier bags were distributed.

That meant staff continued to pack shopping in plastic or other non-biodegradable bags.

He said: "If we are going to make any progress, we must resist the temptation of the easy option and decline plastic carriers. There is little point in having an ecologically friendly bag if it is left in a corner at home."

He asked how many people were aware that more than 100 million tonnes of plastic bags littered our seas.

l The bags are available from: Temple Street Greengrocers, Temple Street Stationery, C&C Electrical, No83 For Cards, Cards and News, The Tile and Pine Shop, Kaieteur, Cards For All Seasons and Feathers and Crackling Butchers, Sidford.