STOURPORT's Beth Williams has a novel business idea in the bag by combining her dual concerns for the environment and the plight of turtles in the world's oceans.

Mrs Williams's business - Turtle Bags - is aimed at persuading people to use fewer plastic carrier bags by providing a much more environmentally friendly alternative - re-usable, organic jute and cotton string bags.

The idea is for people use the shopping bags again and again so avoiding the ubiquitous disposable carrier bag, many thousands of which find their way into the rivers, drainage systems and seas, where they cause great harm to marine life - in particular the turtles.

Mrs Williams, of Worcester Road, said: "Turtles travel to the UK waters from the Caribbean each summer for jelly fish.

"Many mistake up-turned plastic bags for jelly fish and eat them, leading to either blockage of the digestive tract or suffocation."

Mrs Williams, an ecology lecturer, said that in the UK we use eight billion disposable carrier bags in a year - 134 bags per person. She started off about six months ago, looking for an alternative, scouring the internet for environmentally audited producers of bags in natural fabrics and offering workers good employment practices.

She said "I came up with an Indian supplier I am satisfied with. I know the bags are made in an environmentally friendly way and the producer is audited by The Body Shop."

The business of actually selling her bags too, has to fit in with Mrs Williams's principles.

"I sell them mainly through farm shops, which usually have environmental thinking behind them. For instance, farm shops are all about selling local produce, which uses up less road and air miles."

She also promotes them through the WI. It made sense, she said, because women tend to do the shopping.

For Mrs Williams, there is a double pleasure in the fact word is spreading about the bags. Inside every bag she also places a Marine Conservation Society leaflet telling of the plight of the turtles.

She said: "The idea is that this is commercially viable. I am looking to run a successful business but I want it to be an environmentally sustainable one as well."

Local stockists of Turtle Bags are Stanleys Farm Shop, Harvington, Mill Orchards, Stourport Road, Great Witley and Mill Farm and Garden Shop at Stanford Bridge.