ENVIRONMENTAL campaigners from Dorset are calling for a compulsory restriction on single-use carrier bags.

The Dorset branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England is leading the bid locally to urge the Government to require retailers to introduce the levy in a bid to reduce litter and waste.

It is part of a four-pronged national ‘Break the Bag Habit’ campaign involving the CPRE, Keep Britain Tidy, the Marine Conservation Society and Surfers Against Sewage.

CPRE Dorset director Trevor Bevins said: “Over the past two years, the number of carrier bags used in England has increased despite repeated Government calls for retailers to reduce the numbers they give out.

“Last year businesses in the UK issued plastic bags at a rate of 254 a second. A total of eight billion ‘thin-gauge’ plastic bags were issued during 2011 – a 5.4 per cent increase on the 7.6 billion bags issued in 2010.”

He added: “With the Olympics currently putting the focus on our spectacular coastline there has never been a more appropriate time for us to consider action.”