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Traders in a market town were using plastic bags for the last time today as part of a "green" experiment.
From tomorrow, shoppers visiting the 43 businesses in Modbury, south Devon, will get reusable or recyclable cotton or paper bags when they make purchases.
The traders in the town - population 1,553 - believe they are the first in Europe to become plastic bag-free businesses.
The plastic bag ban - which will run for a trial period of around six months - was the brainchild of local wildlife camerawoman Rebecca Hosking, 33.
She organised the trial in just six weeks after returning from a filming trip to Hawaii, where she saw the effect of plastic on marine wildlife there.
After seeing how marine creatures ingested and became entangled in plastic debris, she said she "got on a mission" to convince the town's traders not to use plastic bags.
"They are going to use the alternatives - they have been so supportive," she told the BBC today.
"It would be great if other towns followed our example," she said.
Copyright Press Association 2007
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