A PROJECT to encourage shoppers to buy locally and go ‘plastic bag free’ was launched last week. Shop Local is a scheme run by Stroud Market Towns Partnership, a group of council and business representatives from around the district supported by Stroud District Council. In the first in a series of Shop Local features, Gazette reporter Claire Marshall talks to a shop that has been enforcing the plastic bag free message for the last two years.

LIFESTYLE store That New Shop in Dursley has been without plastic bags for the last two years and in that time the amount of bags given out – now brown paper versions – has halved.

Co-owner of the shop Amara Gillo puts it down to a nifty alternative to the plastic bag that has been a huge success with her customers and has meant people don’t need plastic bags.

The shop, which has been open for 29 years, sells fold-away re-useable bags in a range of colourful designs and Amara said they have sold thousands of them.

"The re-useable bags have been really popular and that’s what started us off, thinking that we could go without plastic bags.

"So many people carried the re-usable bags, which are great for keeping in your handbag, that we found we didn’t need as many plastic bags to hand out.

"Since changing to paper bags we use about half as many because people either don’t need a bag because the item they have bought is too small or they have their own bag.

"We are a lifestyle shop and we wanted to sell lifestyle products that are environmentally friendly."

Amara, who also has a shop of the same name in Malmesbury, Wiltshire, said she hopes the Shop Local message will be embraced by traders and shoppers alike.

"I would say to people try Dursley first, if you can’t get what you are looking for then please do go elsewhere but at least see if you can find what you want here first. It is a case of if you don’t use us you will lose us.

"Dursley is one of just a few places that has free parking and this is a real bonus for the town and people should make the most of it."

You can buy Shop Local bags from Inches, Durcans, The Honey Pot and Dursley Pet Shop, in Parsonage Street and The Vale Vision Shop, in Long Street.