IT'S TIME to tackle plastic pollution and clean up the environment - and during the next two weeks you'll find out how and why.

Bridport Green Fortnight, organised by Transition Town Bridport (TTB), will launch on Saturday and see a series of events, workshops and talks taking place across the town until April 28.

The theme this year is reducing plastic in the environment.

The group's Sarah West said: “We’ve been planning to focus on plastic for some months and recently it has rocketed up the national agenda, so it’s very timely to look at this to see what we can do locally.

"Worldwide, 300 million tonnes of plastic are produced each year, half of it for disposable items and eight million tonnes end up in the sea. In the UK, 38 million plastic bottles are used every day and half of these end up in landfill, so the challenge of reducing plastic waste needs an urgent response”

The fortnight of activities will kick off with an evening of short, plastic-related presentations by environmental groups and storytelling from Martin Maudsley.

As part of the campaign, TTB has also sponsored art activities at two local schools, where working with local artists, pupils have made sculptures out of plastic waste they have recovered from beaches themselves.

Ms West added “The fortnight of activities aims to show why plastic generates multiple environmental problems, and how each of us can play our part in reducing these. Our aim is to encourage everyone to look critically at the plastics we buy, particularly single-use items and consider the alternatives. By making simple changes such as refilling water bottles and using reusable coffee cups, this can have a big impact. We will also be producing a local directory showing people where they can buy non-plastic alternatives as well as putting pressure on larger retailers who are responsible for much of the excess plastic packaging.”

Bridport is not alone in wanting to tackle environmental problems - Inspired by Turn Lyme Green’s campaign to reduce the town's use of plastics, a group of volunteers have made unbleached, cotton muslin fruit and vegetable bags to carry when shopping. Using ‘freggies’, shoppers can refuse to use the plastic bags or packaging and reuse their own bags.

Liz Davis, the designer of the bags, said: "Seeing the film ‘A Plastic Ocean’ was so shocking that I wanted to try to find ways to use less plastic. The muslin bags can be used and re-used. I am much happier not having fruit and vegetables covered in plastic.”

The bags will be available at two events during the Bridport Green Fortnight - at its launch on Saturday and at Buckydoo Square on Wednesday (25).

A full list of events can be found at transitiontownbridport.co.uk