Voices is the Dorset Echo's weekly youth page - written for young people by young people.

RECENTLY, I wrote an article complaining about the exploitation of our planet due to the invasion of plastic, and how we must act rapidly to reduce land, water and air pollution.

Thankfully, Co-op stores have acted by introducing new five pence bags made from corn starch to Dorset.

This environmentally friendly bag is being offered in seventy-five stores across our county, include stores in Weymouth, Verwood, Shaftesbury, Blandford Forum, Sturminster Newton and Wimborne.

The bag is effective and efficient as not only helping the environment by reducing the amount of plastic used, but it has been intelligently designed to be used as a food waste caddy liner.

The Co-op has strived to help our planet, and now it is time for supermarkets and other grocery stores to follow in their footsteps.

These bags do include a small fee to pay, but it is better to pay for an environmentally friendly bag, than to pay five pence for a murderous plastic bag.

Why haven’t they thought of an idea like this yet? The troubles caused by plastic has not only recently been discovered – we have known about the damaging effects of plastic for many years now so more actions like this are needed.

By James Sullivan