GWENT is leading the way in efforts to remove plastic bags from the litter stream after a second local authority backed the campaign.

Newport and now Monmouthshire are the only two councils in Wales to indicate a desire to go plastic bag free.

Local-level campaigns are already under way in Chepstow and Monmouth to encourage shoppers to switch to re-usable alternatives such as cloth and starch bags.

The aim is to reduce the waste caused by the one billion single-use bags handed out for free in Wales every year.

Transition Chepstow, which formed four months ago to mobilise the community in tackling climate change, has its own Plastic Bag-Free Working Group.

Leading member Jacqui Sullivan, who runs an art materials shop in the town, said the response from talks with 40 of the town's shops had been "really good".

The group is finalising the design of a re-usable bag, which will be launched at the Chepstow Festival this summer.

"Plastic bags do horrendous damage to the environment," Mrs Sullivan said: "Hopefully the rest of Wales will join us."

Town councillor Henry Ashby has organised three litter picks across Chepstow in the last year, which saw an estimated 10,000 carrier bags collected in streets, footpaths and parks.

"It's awful - they're are everywhere you look," said Mr Ashby.

Newport council pledged to hold consultations in November about becoming a plastic bag-free city, before Monmouthshire announced an "aspiration for a county free of plastic bags".

Officers will urge all retailers including major supermarkets to do more to reduce the number of bags going to landfill.