The town of Modbury in Devon has boasted little of historical impact since the days of Oliver Cromwell, but today will become the first place in Britain to outlaw the plastic bag.

Every trader has agreed to use environmentally friendly alternatives. The move was announced on the day that the leading supermarkets said that they hoped to phase out giveaway plastic bags within two years.

Some 13 billion plastic bags a year are given away in Britain, of which eight billion end up in landfill. Others get blown away and end up in the sea. The traders of Modbury (pop 1,553) hope that their move will serve as a blueprint for the rest of the country. Customers will be allowed to bring their own plastic bags to reuse, but if they want a new bag they will have to buy one.

A range of bags made of recycled cotton with organic and fairtrade certification will be available from £1.50 to £3.95 and cheaper paper and biodegradeable cornstarch bags will cost 5p and 10p. Jute bags are expected to follow.

The idea is to reduce the plastic rubbish floating around the seas, killing wildlife and spoiling the coastal landscape.

More than 200 species of marine organisms are known to be harmed by ingestion of plastic rubbish or by getting entangled in it. Among the victims are loggerhead turtles, which mistake them for jellyfish, which they eat.

Adam Fearle, of the Mackgills Delicatessen in Modbury, estimated that his store handed out 30,000 plastic bags a year. “What we are trying to do is move away from plastic completely,” he said.

The Coop is the biggest store in the town and has joined in the scheme for a six-month trial. with all 43 of its neighbours that provide plastic bags. Tim Pierce, of the Plymouth and South West Cooperative Society which runs 70 stores, said that if it was successful, the scheme would be considered for expansion.

Until today the store gave out 300,000 plastic bags a year and he said of the ban: “We are very happy to be part of it. We think it’s an excellent idea.”

Rebecca Hosking, a wildlife photographer from Modbury, set up the scheme after witnessing the devastation wrought on animals by discarded plastic.

Today she will ensure that every shop in the town has handed over all their stocks of plastic bags. They will be recycled by a designer and transformed into furniture. “It would be great if other towns followed our example,” she said.

She saw hundreds of Laysan albatross chicks in the Hawaiian island of Midway that died after swallowing in the sea. After filming the marine rubbish for the BBC’s Natural Worldshe showed a preview of the programme to the shopkeepers. They were so shocked that they decided on the bag ban.

Miss Hosking said: “There were carcasses everywhere I looked. You couldn’t walk in a straight line without stepping on a dead chick. Plastic was bursting out of the bodies.

An estimated 100 million tonnes of plastic litter the seas and make up 90 per cent of all marine rubbish, with 1.2 trillion plastic bags being produced annually – 300 per person.

A million seabirds are estimated to be killed by plastic each year, plus 100,000 seals, sealions, whales and dolphins.

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