ABERPORTH’S plastic-free flag has been raised at Penrodyn.

The village was recognised as the first plastic-free community in Wales in January this year.

Villagers had taken up the plastic-free campaign just three months earlier and attracted worldwide media interest as locals vowed to reduce their single-use plastic.

The plastic-free accolade was announced by Surfers Against Sewage live on BBC’s The One Show.

Gail Tudor, of the Aberporth Plastic Free committee, said: “We are so pleased to have gained plastic free community status in such a short period of time. Hopefully the flag will serve as a reminder to locals and visitors to keep their plastic usage to a minimum.”

With plastic pollution now high on political, personal and news agendas, the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) is once again throwing down the gauntlet to the public to take on its Plastic Challenge.

MCS is asking people to give up single-use plastics for the whole of July.

The charity has run the Plastic Challenge for the last four years. More than 1,000 people took part in 2016, and last year over 5,000 people registered to give up using single use plastic.

That includes food packaged in plastic, plastic water bottles, plastic milk bottles, shower gels, toothpaste and pasta to name but a very few.

“This is a challenge that you can make as easy or as hard for yourself as you like,” said Dr Sue Kinsey MCS technical specialist. “But however you choose to do it you won't fail to realise just how reliant on plastic we’ve become. Some things are really tough to replace however much you want to give up single-use plastic”.

Among the things people found hardest to replace were milk containers, dried goods packaged in single use plastic like pasta rice and pulses, loo paper and toothpaste.

This year MCS hopes even more people will try to give up single use plastic during July. Last year, challengers made their own bread, yogurt, cleaning and bathroom products like mouthwash and sugar scrubs so as not to use plastic containers that are used once and then thrown out.

MCS beach cleaning data has revealed a rise of 180 per cent of plastic litter found on beaches in the last two decades posing a huge threat to wildlife and humans.

Plastic bags, bottles and tiny plastic pieces are regularly found in the stomachs of turtles and other sea creatures and in some cases have caused their death from starvation or choking.

Sign up to take part in the Plastic Challenge at: www.mcsuk.org/plastic-challenge