CLOTH bags are on sale to customers at a bakery in Malmesbury as it plans to be plastic free by 2019.

Family-run bakery Hobbs House, which has stores in Malmesbury, Tetbury, Bristol, Chipping Sodbury and Nailsworth, is phasing out its use of plastic, and aims to drastically reduce its carbon footprint.

Hobbs House recently introduced cloth bags for customers to use as an alternative to their compostable bags, and hopes to recycle 75 per cent of its waste by September.

Team leader at the Malmesbury branch, Emily Small, is excited about this new venture. She said: “We are really excited about going down the plastic-free route. As a company we are looking at reducing our impact on the environment generally and are looking at doing things that will cut down the number of deliveries we have each week.”

Hobbs House Bakery recognises the responsibility it has to its customers, communities and environment, and wants to

minimise its impact to benefit others.

Marketing assistant, Jo Cox, said: “We do lots of different things to help the environment.

“For example, 96 per cent of all of our flour comes from our local mill, Shipton Mill, and our coffee and tea comes from Bristol.

“We aim for all our shops to be plastic free by 2019, and to recycle 75 per cent of our waste by September this year.

“All our coffee cups are compostable, but we promote people using their own reusable cups and they get 10 per cent off.

“We also use wax bags which compost within four weeks, but people have been asking for something more.

“The cloth bags keep bread nice and fresh and it isn’t taking anything away from our shop at this point.

“We have had a really good response on social media with people saying how great it is.”