Every year, an estimated 17½ billion plastic bags are given away by supermarkets. This is equivalent to over 290 bags for every person in the UK, so you can see millions of plastic bags are given away each year in Newton Abbot, so few people using so much plastic says a lot about our wasteful habits.

A person's use of a plastic check-out bag can be counted in minutes - however long it takes to get groceries from the shops to their homes. These bags, however, can last for hundreds of years. Combine the growing number of plastic bags used every year with the time it takes for them to break down and you have a major environmental problem. Even the biodegradable bags take time to break down.

Whether it's inadvertent or deliberate, plastic bag litter creates many problems. Bags get caught in fences and trees. They end up blocking drains and trapping birds. When eaten they kill livestock. In the marine environment, plastic bag litter is lethal, killing thousands of sea life every year. Our aim therefore is to show councils, retailers, communities and individuals how to reduce their use of plastic check-out bags.

Doing away with plastic bags is easier than you think. Planet Ark has worked with communities in Australia to ban plastic check-out bags in all of their retail outlets. If these towns can live without plastic bags, then maybe Newton Abbot can.