Penistone Carry-a-Bag Campaign organisers hope locals and shops will turn their backs on one-trip carriers for good after a day of face painting in the High Street, music from Razzmatazz and a make-your-own-shopping-bag workshop in St John's Church, a children's quiz, a free raffle, Fair Trade tasting at the Co-op, and a sale of handmade shopping bags in the Farmers' Market.

There will also be a plastic bag amnesty. Shoppers can return old carriers to the stall in the Farmers' Market which will either be distributed to traders for re-use or recycled via the Co-op store.

By Saturday every Penistone household should have received a free cotton shopping bag to replace one-trip carrier bags. More than 100 volunteers and council binmen are delivering 6,000 shopping bags free to every household in the run-up to the launch.

The campaign group estimates that if each reusable bag is used three times a week nearly one million plastic bags would be saved each year.

Helen Fryers of Penistone Carry-a-Bag Campaign said: "We have received fantastic support from traders and residents and feel confident that the whole community will get into the habit of saying no to free carrier bags. That will be good news for the environment and help cut plastic waste."

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