A South Hams campaigner has called for the government to act “quickly” upon Theresa May’s ambitions to partake on a 25-year plan to improve the environment.

As Theresa May reveals her ambitions to reduce plastic waste and consumption, campaigner from Less Plastic, Amanda Keetley has analysed the Prime Ministers pledge to eradicate all avoidable plastic waste.

Today the Prime Minister has launched a 25-year plan to improve the environment by reducing the amount of plastic waste, increasing the charge on plastic bags across all retailers and increasing funding into research.

At the World at One programme on BBC Radio Four, Amanda Keetley talked to Mark Mardell about the Prime Minister’s ambitions. Amanda Keetley is the founder of Less Plastic based in the South Hams, that aims to raise awareness of the problems of plastic pollution and offer reusable alternatives.

May’s speech had “lots of good things in there” explained Amanda. Her ideas are definitely a good start, however there is “not enough detail” in them.

“She didn’t mention anything at all about plastic bottles” which are “the items we find most on beaches near us” added Amanda.

She referred to the Borrow-a-Bag scheme created in Kingsbridge recently as a possible solution to May’s quest to solve the issue of plastic bags. The scheme allows people to use renewable bags when they forget their own, which can be returned to a participating store at a later date.

Amanda emphasised that we “do need new laws” to make sure these efforts make changes. “At the end of the day, the quickest way to do this is with legislation and taxes” added Amanda.

“I think the government have the most important role to play…because they can solve it very quickly”.

May’s 25-year plan needs to happen as soon as possible, because of the large amount of waste that is entering our oceans, explained Amanda.

Today a woman from the South Hams was walking with her son along North Sands, as Theresa May was launching her ambitions.

The South Hams resident came across a large amount of plastic waste washed up on the shore which has inspired her to look into organising a beach clean.