Traders plan to turn their busy shopping district into a plastic bag-free zone.

Shopkeepers in Brighton's bustling North Laine are to introduce a reusable cotton bag in a move to boost the area's environmental credentials.

The North Laine Traders' Association (NTLA) is buying 1,000 bags to distribute among members who will either give them to customers or charge a fee.

The NTLA was inspired by shopkeepers in Modbury, Devon, who managed to make their small town the first place in Britain to rid itself of plastic bags.

All 43 shops in Modbury, including the Co-op supermarket, are issuing reusable bags and bio-degradable tubs and carriers to their customers.

There are more than 300 shops in North Laine. If the scheme is successful it will be the first time it has been achieved on such a scale anywhere in the country.

Sharon Thomas, chairman of the NTLA and owner of the Off Beat coffee bar in Sydney Street, said: "We get a lot of conscientious shoppers in the North Laine so we are really hoping they will go for this scheme.

"If you can buy a reusable bag from Sainsbury's, why can't you buy one from the North Laine?" She added: "We are all concerned about doing our bit for the environment so hopefully we can make North Laine a plastic bag-free zone."

The bags, which will advertise the North Laine, will be introduced later this year. A decision on the final design will be made at a meeting of the NTLA tomorrow.

British shoppers use 20 billion plastic bags a year, or 350 a person.

There are almost 50,000 pieces of plastic, mainly bags, in every square mile of sea.

Most bags take hundreds of years to decompose.

A tax on plastic shopping bags in the Republic of Ireland has cut their use by more than 90 per cent and raised millions of euros in revenue.

There are no plans to launch a similar scheme in Britain but the Government has backed a voluntary agreement by the retail sector to reduce the overall environmental impact of carrier bags by 25 per cent by 2008.

Marks & Spencer is to start charging customers for plastic bags as part of a £200 million scheme to encourage shoppers to go green.

Shoppers at 14 of the company's stores in Northern Ireland will have to pay 5p for every carrier bag they use in a trial starting this summer.