OVER 400 people have pledged to change their shopping habits for the greener!

Last week, we published the names of 50 people who have won a jute bag by pledging to reduce their plastic carrier bag usage - and this week there are 50 more.

The winners have been collecting the limited edition jute bags from our office in St James' Street.

The County Gazette has teamed up with the Taunton-based United Kingdom Hydrographic Office for the campaign, to encourage readers to pledge to reduce their plastic bag use by 25% over the next 12 months.

All those who make the pledge will be entered into a free prize draw to win one of the limited edition reusable jute bags and the names of the winners will be published in the County Gazette each week.

The grand total of readers who have made the pledge has now reached 430.

Anne Webb, UKHO head of facilities management, said: "At the moment, each person in the UK uses an average of 297 plastic bags a year and most of the estimated 17 million bags given away in the UK each year are only used once and then thrown away - this is causing an estimated 100,000 tonnes of plastic bags being thrown away in the UK annually."

Ken Bird, editor-in-chief of the County Gazette, said: "It's great to see support for our jute bags campaign - it's a superb opportunity to do something positive for the environment."