Wimbledon Park cottons on to the idea of re-usable carriers

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Businesses in Wimbledon Park have contributed hundreds of pounds to fund Bags For Better Lives, a project to distribute re-usable cotton bags to more than 3,000 households.

Volunteers have been visiting residents and asking them to use the new bags each time they go shopping. Shopkeepers have also agreed to be more sparing when handing out bags.

Tom Walsh of environmental charity Sustainable Merton, which is co-ordinating the project, said: "We've had a good response from shopkeepers. We're not going to save the world but it's a step in the right direction."

Around 9,000 plastic bags are handed out by traders in Wimbledon Park each week, according to research carried out by Bags For Better Lives.

Londoners use at least 1.6 billion plastic bags a year. For every billion plastic bags produced, 18,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide are released.

In the marine environment, plastic bag litter kills at least 100,000 birds, whales, seals and turtles every year. On land, 47 per cent of wind-borne litter is plastic and much of this is plastic bags.