Around fifty people returned their plastic wrapping to Sainsbury’s in Frome on Saturday, 7th April, with the idea also being taken up in Wells, Bradford-on-Avon and Warminister.

Julian Thomas, who thought of the idea, said: “So much of the plastic waste that we can’t recycle comes from supermarkets. #Returntheplastic is a simple idea to highlight the issue and encourage supermarkets to urgently act to reduce plastic on products.”

Mendip District Green Party Councillor, Shane Collins, said: “The Government has just announced a consultation on a plastic tax and a deposit scheme on bottles and pledged to ban ‘avoidable’ plastics by 2042, but in Somerset in the space of five months, Frome Town, Glastonbury Town, Mendip District and Somerset County Councils have all agreed to ban single use plastic from their activities. Frome’s cafés are greening up, offering reusable mugs and water refills, and now it is time to pressurise the biggest culprits of all, the supermarkets.

“We hope on Saturday, 5th May, lots more towns will join us and return the plastic to their supermarkets. This is urgent, this is a crisis and we all have a part to play.”