A LEADING private school has announced it will start treating pupils with plastic bottles in the same way as smokers who go for a sneaky cigarette.

Brighton College will now start to enforce the policy by initially giving them formal warnings for using disposable or single use plastics, with the possibility of tougher punishments being handed out.

Headmaster Richard Cairns branded the plastic items just as “anti-social” as cigarettes.

Speaking at an education conference at the school yesterday, Mr Cairns said: “We will treat plastic bottles, straws and non-biodegradable cups as antisocial, in the same way that for decades we have banned cigarettes.

“Initially we will enforce the changes with a system of formal warnings for pupils breaking the rules but there is also the appetite, if it proves necessary, to use sanctions — in large part because the potential for sanctions highlights the significance of the issue.”

The £12,000 a year school is bringing in new policies to become more environmentally friendly, with the new ban also affecting teaching and support staff.

The school is believed to be the first in Britain to ban its pupils from using single-use plastics on the premises.

Pupils at the school were said to be “shaken” after watching marine life being strangled and hurt by plastic in the sea on the BBC’s Blue Planet 2 series.

This led to sixth form students starting a campaign to bring an end to the use of single-use plastics at the school.

Mr Cairns said: “In 2016, more than 480 billion plastic drinking bottles were sold across the world, with millions ending up in our oceans.

“A recent survey by Plymouth University found that plastic was found in a third of all UK-caught fish, and the effect on humans of eating fish containing this plastic is still largely unknown.”

The school intends to provide more water fountains to coincide with the ban so that students have less reason to carry plastic bottles with them.

It will also be introducing refillable bottles for all students, which will have environmentally friendly messages printed on them.

As well as taking action over plastics at the school, Mr Cairns is also planning to implement changes to address the use of diesel vehicles at the school.

This will include a research programme led by sixth form science students on possible solutions.

The headmaster has not ruled out banning teachers and parents with diesel cars from driving onto the site in future.