Once famous for their jam and cakes, the ladies of the Women's Institute are building a formidable reputation as campaigners.

Not content with barracking Tony Blair in 2000, the WI has now set its sights on the supermarket giants.

Susan Warr, chairman of the Norfolk Federation of Women's Institutes, yesterday urged shoppers to take direct action against excessive packaging - by taking it off the products they buy and leaving it behind in the stores.

Mrs Warr's call echoed the comments of environment minister Ben Bradshaw, who said after a meeting with major retailers that shoppers were still being bombarded with unnecessary packaging.

Mrs Warr said: "We would like to see supermarkets using considerably less packaging. They can do it in Europe, why can they not do it here?

"People should take off excess packaging and leave it in the store. They should also take their own shopping bags.

"The supermarkets are talk-ing about it as if it is some-thing new they are asked to do . . . They will only do it if legislation is threatened."

In September, the National Consumer Council called on Britain's eight leading supermarkets to do more to cut waste, saying that they should all aim for a 100pc recycled packaging target.

Yesterday the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) called on the super-markets to cut packaging by 160,000 tonnes by 2008, rising to 340,000 tonnes by 2010.

Stores are making efforts to become greener. Tesco has introduced biodegradable shopping bags and offers Clubcard loyalty points to customers who reuse carriers. Sainsbury's has introduced biodegradable bags and now sells more than 500 products in compostable packaging which it estimates will save 3,550 tonnes of plastic a year.

Packaging expert James Colwill, who edits the Packaging Europe magazine and website, based in Nor-wich, said: "There is a limit to how much packaging you can eliminate before you incur higher levels of damage."

Source