OXFORD City Council has declared war on unwanted plastic carriers by offering ethically-traded cotton shopping bags for £1-a-go.

Leader John Goddard said: "We all need to think about being environmentally friendly - and buying one of these bags is a good starting point.

"I have been encouraging people to use reusable bags and say no to plastic bags when they are offered one in the shops.

"If more people say no when they are out shopping, retailers will think about how many they use each day."

Oxford's cotton bags are available for the tourist information centre in Broad Street and independent shops including Campus Stores, Flaggs, Castells (the Varsity Shop), Shepherd and Woodward and Wendy News.

Plans were first unveiled at a climate change conference in Oxford earlier this year, to persuade supermarkets, stores and independent shops to ditch plastic bags.