It wants to become a pioneer in the fight against plastics.

Retailers could completely ditch the bags from checkouts and, long term, it is hoped a number of schemes can be set up to rid the town of the difficult to recycle material.

The new campaign, called #LoveBridgnorth:HatePlastic, has been launched after a showing of environmental documentary Trashed took place in the town.

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Councillor Julia Buckley, who is part of the initiative, said the film had really captured people’s imaginations.

Warnings in the recent series of Blue Planet II just helped to further their campaign.

“People have been stopping me in the street to talk about it,” Councillor Buckley said.

“It’s on the crest of a wave. Now is the moment that everybody wants to do something and we want to capture that imagination. People are ready, and they just want to know how they can help.”

Although the first meeting of LoveBridgnorth:HatePlastic has yet to take place, there are already dozens of ideas floating around.

Possibilities include an increase of water fountains in the town so that shoppers will no longer need to buy bottled drinks.

Coffee shop mugs that can be returned anywhere in the town could be introduced to replace single-use plastic cups.

But the first effort will be to get rid of plastic bags from the town’s shops, and Councillor Buckley said the effort is already well underway.

She said retailers at a recent meeting of Sustainable Bridgnorth had been ready to make the switch from plastic to paper.

“They were completely in favour,” she said. “Every single person at the meeting said they wanted to do it.

“If we can get funding, it would be at no cost to them. Usually people are going to the shops asking them to give to schemes like this, but this way we would be the ones giving.”

Last year a small Devonshire town called Modbury celebrated 10 years since it became the first town in Europe to become plastic bag free.

Councillor Buckley said the aim was to follow in its footsteps.

“It’s only a small town, but they did it,” she said. “It shows it’s possible, and it’s worth doing because it’s worth doing, not just to be the first.”

The first test of the town’s green credentials will come in February, when the people behind #LoveBridgnorth:HatePlastic will take part in the national “Plastic-Free Feb” campaign.

They will produce posters and online resources to help both businesses and people become more sustainable.

Councillor Buckley said between now and then she would be speaking with both the bigger chain shops and independent shops about the possibilities. It is possible the group will also get funding to buy a machine that will produce its own paper bags.

“It could be the Bridgnorth bag,” Councillor Buckley said. “If you can set it up as a social enterprise or small business, eventually traders outside of Bridgnorth could buy them as well. it pays for itself, the actual enterprise become sustainable.”

The first meeting of the group will take place on Thursday at 7.30pm in the downstairs room at Cartway Church.

They will discuss other ideas and initiatives to form a co-ordinated campaign for the town.

It’s time to act and go back to basics

People in Bridgnorth say they would enthusiastically back the ban.

George Townson, 77, of Highlands Road, said: “We are producing food wrapped in plastic that doesn’t need to be.

“If you watch the old American films, they used to end up at the end of the till with paper sacks. We have plastic carrier bags – millions of them.“You’ve got to go back to the source. Why doesn’t the Prime Minister get the CEOs of the supermarkets and say you will not be able to sell anything in plastic by 2021. End of story. It would happen, because otherwise they would be out of the job. It makes no sense to me.”

Robert Massie, 60, said: “Plastic is getting everywhere now. If you don’t recycle plastic it’s going to get everywhere. You see it on the paths and everywhere else.

“In the old days most things were wrapped up in paper. You can do that today.”

Clive Price, 80, who lives near Ludlow Road, and said the country was more environmentally friendly 50 years ago – even if we didn’t realise it.

He said: “When I was a young lad I used to collect the groceries in a basket and a canvas bag. Now I go to the shop and I’ve got a plastic bag.

“We use too many. We were environmentally friendly in the 40s and 50s and we didn’t really know we were. Now we’ve got into very bad habits.

“We’re spoiling the oceans. You go to any beach and there’s plastic everywhere. I take a bag with me when I walk because I’m picking up bottles and crisp bags. And that’s in the country. People are driving past and just throwing them out the car.”

Anna Zartarian-Walsh and her husband Chris run chip shop Fish, in Bridgnorth High Street. She said protecting the environment was important for the future of the seafood industry.

“Plastic is really bad for the environment,” she said. “Selling fresh fish, it’s hard for us not to use plastic, but we try to encourage customers to re-use their bags. Plastic is killing the oceans, it doesn’t break down. We’d like to switch to paper carrier bags, but it’s something you’ve got to weigh up because of cost.”