Last month they were at the local street stall handing out free reusable  hessian bags, courtesy of Walcha Council, however campaigner Caroly Laurie said there is no time for complacency.

“I was talking to a friend in England a few days ago and I was interested to hear from her that the use of plastic shopping bags in England has gone down by 80 per cent in the last year,” Caroly said. 

“She also told me that Mumbai were banning the use of plastic bags.  I thought that sounded highly unlikely so I checked it out on the internet. Not only is it true, but they are planning on achieving this result in six months. They also plan to introduce large fines for those companies who do not comply.”

Caroly also spoke about a rare beached whale recently found in Norway.

“Apparently in this whale's stomach they found 30 plastic bags from different countries around the world,” she said.

“Think about that when you next shop.”