TWO villages have been recognised for the efforts to become plastic free to help the environment.

The campaign group Surfers Against Sewerage have congratulated Mistley and Lawford for their work.

The villages have been awarded their Plastic Free Communities status, following Manningtree’s success last year.

The recognition comes from the campaign to ban plastics in the area, which was started by Bekki Bibko.

Many groups in the villages got involved to cut down their use of plastic to support the campaign.

These include Trinity Free Church, Manningtree Methodist Church, Mistley Church, the Rotary Club of Stour Valley, Grace Notes Community Choir, Acorn Village and the Venture Centre Upholstery Group.

Bekki said: "We're absolutely over the moon to have been accredited for all three areas - Manningtree, Mistley and Lawford.

“This is the start of our journey to completely eliminate single-use plastics from our little riverside town."

The Plastic Free Manningtree, Mistley and Lawford group aims to reduce and hopefully stop the use of single-use plastics in these areas.

A total of 875 communities in the UK have also signed up to be part of the environmentally-friendly movement.