A WORCESTERSHIRE firm, a manufacturer of re-usable bags, has joined forces with a national supermarket to create an innovative product.

Jutexpo has joined forces with Waitrose and designer Emma Bridgewater, to create a reusable bag made entirely of recycled plastic bottles.

With the launch of the bags, the supermarket and the Broadway-based firm will be reusing half a million bottles in total.

The bags are made from a fabric using 100 per cent recycled plastic bottles, and are the first to have the integrity of certification to the Global Recycled Standard (GRS).

Each bag is created using the material from seven plastic bottles, in a process which turns the plastic into a durable and practical fabric called rPet fabric, short for recycled polyethylene terephthalate, which looks like a jute bag with a wipe clean coating.

The supermarket expects that a number of reusable Waitrose shopping bags will be designed using the same material in the future - turning more than one million plastic bottles into shopping bags.

The design features Emma’s iconic polka dots and comes in two summery colours, a bright and bold purple and a classic cream and lilac. Also part of the range are four new fold-away pouch bags, also made from recycled plastic bottles, featuring classic Emma Bridgewater designs.

Both types of bag will be available in Waitrose shops from June 20, with 10 per cent of the retail price from each bag going to The Prince’s Countryside Fund, which supports projects across the UK that help provide a secure future for the countryside. The bags are priced at £5 and the pouch bags will be £4.

Sam Turner, from Jutexpo, said: “Waitrose was Jutexpo’s first ever customer when we began producing and supplying reusable bags 15 years ago and the relationship we have with them has been key to understanding the issues around plastic bottles and the ways in which they can be repurposed in a meaningful way.”