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Jeremy Irons latest celeb to turn on plastic bags: video

Actor Jeremy Irons has become the latest celebrity to join the anti-plastic bag brigade as California moves towards a total ban on single-use carriers.

The star of films such as Lolita and The Lion King’s latest project is to narrate a mock nature documentary entitled The Majestic Plastic Bag that charts the bag’s ‘migration’ from a Californian city to the Pacific Ocean.

The danger-filled migration to the ‘Great Pacific Garbage Patch’ – apparently twice the size of Texas – includes run-ins with park litter collectors, small dogs and trees.

The admittedly witty four-minute film is likely to aggravate the plastics industry, which has long argued that single-use carrier bags are more environmentally friendly than the paper or heavy plastic alternatives.

The release of the film by the Heal the Bay campaign group comes amid moves in California towards a total ban on single-use plastic bags.

San Francisco is considering extending its 2007 ban on the bags in large grocers and chemists to all retailers, while the state’s legislature is currently debating a similar statewide ban.