THE use of plastic bag could be confined to the history books in the Malvern Hills District Council area.

Green Party and Lib Dem Councillor John Raine is proposing that plastic bags should become a thing of the past. He has put forward a motion, which will go to the full council meeting tomorrow, that the council should commit to leading the district to become plastic bag free in 2008.

Coun Raine said: "Although representing only one small aspect of our fossil fuel dependence and being just one small contributor to climate change, the liberal free supply and extremely short-lived usage of plastic bags symbolises the carelessness of contemporary society towards our planet's eco-system and its future.

"The irony is that most people now accept that plastic bags are an unnecessary problem and agree that we should all be using more durable, re-usable and environmentally-friendly ones instead."

But he said as long as retailers continue to supply free bags and customers fail to use their own, the practice will continue.

Coun Raine believes the cycle can be easily broken and the council can make a difference. Hay-on-Wye, Hereford-shire, Modbury in Devon and Brighton, West Sussex, have all become plastic bag-free, while there are no free plastic bags in Irish supermarkets.

He said: "The process of change needs more facilitation to hurry us up. Here in the Malvern Hills there is much local public enthusiasm for such a cause."

Coun Raine wants the council to work with the shoppers, retailers and their trade organisations to promote a change in supply and demand habits towards the use of more durable and natural fibre bags. He also wants it to switch from plastic refuse sacks to more environmentally-friendly and reusable ones so that Malvern can become plastic bag free by the end of the year.