GREEN MEP Caroline Lucas says she supports retailers and businesses in Kent charging customers for plastic bags but in the long term would like to see them banned altogether.

Her comments follow a landmark decision by Marks and Spencer to start charging 5p for single use bags in a bid to encourage shoppers towards long-life re-usable carriers.

Kent butchers JC Rook and Sons has already set an example for businesses in the county to follow by charging customers 5p for plastic bags. Not only has the number of bags reduce by two-thirds in the last two months but more customers have started to use their own bags.

The money raised will be donated to Rotary Clubs across the county.

Dr Lucas, a member of the European Parliament's influential Environment Committee, said: "I think individual initiatives such as these being taken by retailers like Marks and Spencers and locally at JC Rook and Sons are great steps in the right direction.

"But instead of waiting for each very good shop to come up with their own decision I would like to see a Government measure, like a mandatory tax, to be put on businesses using plastic bags.

"I would also like to look at the feasibility of phasing them out all together from all the high street shops."

JC Rook's company director, Christopher Rook, said his business was using around 1.4 million plastic bags every year. The business has 16 shops across the county.

The company started implementing the charges in January and has seen the amount of plastic bags reduce by around two-thirds from 116,000 from January to February 2006 to 38,000 in the same period this year.

Mr Rook, 45, from Deal said: "We were using too many bags and giving them away as a matter of course.

"Everyone knew what we were doing and now we have noticed that customers are beginning to bring back bags and use their own bags. So it is going well.

"We would urge other businesses to come forward and start to do something."

JC Rook has shops in Deal, Hythe, Maidstone, Tunbridge Wells, Chatham and Gillingham.