A CHIP shop in Burnham is removing all plastic containers from its trade in a bid to reduce plastic pollution.

The Jolly Fryer of Burnham High Street will be phasing out all plastic food trays, containers, shopping and bin bags when their current stock runs out, replacing them with cardboard and paper packaging.

The fryer goes through roughly 1,000 plastic chip trays per week. Experts say that the average plastic container can take between 450 to 500 years to completely break down.

Owner John Lord said he was inspired to make changes to his business after seeing the effects of plastic pollution on the world in the news.

He said: “I was watching a football match on Sky the other day, and during the game adverts were played about a campaign people are doing to reduce the amount of single use plastic items in their shops.

“I then went to buy the week’s stock of chip trays, and looking around I saw loads of different items all made of plastic. It just made me think of how bad the level of plastic is getting in the world.

“It inspired me to make the change to cardboard packaging, which can break down and be recycled much more easily.”

Mr Lord hopes that other businesses will follow suit with efforts to reduce plastic output.

Plastic Pollution Coalition predicts that by 2050 there will be more plastic in the world’s oceans than fish by weight.

Mr Lord added: “A lot of people may feel a bit powerless to help with something like plastic pollution, people can only do so much individually.

“But if they walk into their local chip store and see that the effort is being made to put out the least amount of plastic possible, it’s a driver for them, and hopefully it will be uplifting.

“Something needs to change. If we don’t start acting now, there won’t be a lot left for our kids.”