AMBITIOUS plans to make Barry Wales' first 'plastic free' town are being driven by the architect behind Whitmore Bay's #2minutebeachclean initiative, that won over local people in a new BBC TV show in December.

Aoife Blight, 33, pitched the concept of the #2minutebeachclean – an idea devised several years ago by the Beach Clean Network and adopted by Mrs Blight to help clean up Whitmore Bay beach – in the new series, 'Let's Get a Good Thing Going', which aired last month. Mrs Blight beat off competition from three other ideas to land investment to put the initiative into practice, with the #2minutebeachclean board set to be officially unveiled this weekend.

Mrs Blight's idea has already proven so popular with local people and businesses that she has now set out plans to take the town's green revolution to the next stage – by making Barry a 'plastic free' town.

Penzance, Cornwall, became the first UK town to be granted 'plastic free' status at the end of last year, as part of a campaign run by conservation charity Surfers against Sewage. While 'plastic free' status does not require eradicating plastic entirely, it does mean a concerted effort by traders and local residents to reduce the use of single-use plastics and to minimise plastic litter entering our seas.

"It basically means asking local businesses to take a look at their packaging and what they provide," said Mrs Blight.

"It can be as simple as saying we won’t just give you plastic straws anymore, if you need a straw, we’ll provide you with one, but you'll need to ask. Or changing all your plastic cutlery to wooden."

O'Shea's Fish and Chip shop, who scrapped polystyrene food packaging last year, are one of several businesses to have already expressed interest in making Barry 'plastic free'. Marshall's Butchers also announced last week that they would now offer to pack meat in greaseproof paper rather than plastic if requested, and have been in touch with Mrs Blight regarding her campaign.

"It’s very early days, but what I’d like to get is some kind of awareness campaign. It’s going to have to be more than just me, but Twitter has been an incredible tool for connecting with people and showing just how many people are interested in it," said Mrs Blight.

The movement is already gaining momentum online. Under her Twitter moniker, 'Zerowaste Cardiff', Mrs Blight has attracted support from the likes of 'Barrybados' and 'Pride in Barry', as well as local stores and restaurants.

"Zero Waste Cardiff was my attempt to catalogue what I was doing with it," said Mrs Blight.

"I set it up just to log all the changes that we were making and to see if there were other people out there that were interested.

"People are now starting to realise there’s an issue, largely thanks to Blue Planet 2."

Mrs Blight's first goal however is to make #2minutebeachclean a success, something that she hopes the Vale of Glamorgan Council will support her with.

"I think a success would be to just come down on a Saturday with my family and see people out with the litter pickers, and to see people on Twitter and Instagram putting their pictures up to say they’ve done their beach clean.

"A quantifiable result would be if the council were to get extra boards for the other beaches around the Vale."

Vale council operational manager, Colin Smith, said: “The council is appreciative of Ms Blight’s efforts and fully support any initiative aimed at maintaining beaches in the Vale. A beach clean board has been installed at Whitmore Bay and we are monitoring its use. If it proves popular we will consider installing similar boards in other coastal areas.”

The #2minutebeachclean board is being unveiled on Whitmore Bay beach this Saturday (January 20) at 12pm.