TAUNTON Deane Borough Council is looking to become one of the leading environmentally-friendly towns after passing two forward-thinking resolutions.

At it full council meeting held last night (Thursday, February 23), the council agreed to phase out single-use plastic products such as bottles, cups, cutlery and drinking straws as well as the unnecessary use of plastic bags, as well as passing a linked resolution put forward by Cllr Habib Farbahi.

Cllr Farbahi proposals included phasing out plastics, as well as calling on the council to provide multi-compartment recycling bins in town, encouraging schools and colleges to reduce plastics and look at introducing incentives such as a modest reduction in business rates for business that reduce their plastic use.

"This is something that can appeal cross-party and is quite far-reaching. The figures are quite mind-boggling. There are 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic in the world's oceans, and research shows that this damages marine life," Cllr Farbahi said.

"We want to raise awareness of the issue of micro-plastics, as it is one of the major threats to the health of our oceans and is something everyone, including school children, can all do something about."

The council unanimously passed and backed a petition to phase out single-use plastics put forward by Dave Mansell on behalf of environmental groups Transition Athelney, Quantock Eco, Taunton Transition Town, Quantock Eco, Transition Town Wellington and Wivey Action on Climate and Environment.

Taunton Deane Borough Council leader John Williams said: "I cannot think why we would not support this. Many of us saw and were impacted by the recent Blue Planet series and I think this is a positive step in the right direction."