THE battle against single use plastic has begun in Malmesbury.

A group of people from the town and surrounding area called Malmesbury Against Plastics are on a mission to encourage residents and businesses to reduce usage.

The creation of the group follows an announcement last month when Malmesbury Town Council voted unanimously in favour of setting up a group to look into ending single use plastics.

Their aim is to try and make the town plastic free by March 2019 where possible.

It may not be possible to completely eradicate plastics but where alternatives can be made, they want to make those changes.

To do this they will be creating a directory for people to use.

It will be a handy guide for everyone to access with details of alternatives to plastic use, nifty tips and other actions they can take.

They will also look into hosting workshops, talks and events to help educate residents and businesses.

Some businesses have already took steps to go plastic free.

Jackdaws Coffee House offers starch lined coffee cups, paper straws, glass water bottles and aluminium cola bottles.

Hobbs House Bakery has introduced re-usable cloth bags instead of compostable bags while a number of other businesses have said they are open to the idea of reducing plastic use.

Malmesbury town councillor Gavin Grant said: “I am delighted to support the launch of Malmesbury Against Plastic.

“It is great to ‎see so many people determined to end single use plastics in our town.

“Our town council has agreed to work to the same end and I am pressing Wiltshire Council to take effective action.

“We can also all play our part to help whether as consumers, citizens or local business owners.”

You can follow their fight at MalmesburyAgainstPlastic on Facebook or @NoPlasticMalms on Twitter.