Community groups, businesses, schools, councils and individuals are being urged to get on board with a new action group which aims to win Falmouth Surfers Again Sewage's plastic free coastline status within months.

Plastic Free Falmouth is a collaboration of several individuals, businesses and organisations, including the Marine Conservation Society, Refill and the Final Straw, who want to drastically reduce the amount of single-use plastic that is being used across Falmouth, Penryn, Mylor and Flushing.

Penzance became the first town in the country to achieve plastic free coastline status in December and the hope is that Falmouth will become the second.

Kirstie Edwards of Plastic Free Falmouth said: "Falmouth has an amazing community who are amazing at getting stuff done. We have a really good chance of getting this. It doesn't mean that we have to get rid of all plastic because that is not achievable. It's about doing as much as we can across as many forums as we can."

To achieve the status the group needs to meet five objectives: gaining support from public bodies like Falmouth Town Council; signing up at least 12 businesses who have swapped at least three items of single-use plastic for more sustainable alternatives and encouraging community groups and organisations to get involved and take action.

The third objective is to hold awareness events and beach cleans and number four is to form a steering group to promote and guide the campaign.

Kirstie has been working hard to spread the word and will be giving a presentation to Falmouth Town Council on March 5. "I'm trying to signpost everybody, give people the right information and coordinate and collate everything to make sure everyone has the support they need to do this," she said. "We have an amazing team working across the board on it.

"We would love to get this status before the tourism season starts this summer, but it has become apparent to me that we could do it a lot sooner. We could potentially achieve it by the time I present to the town council. I really believe we can do it and people seem overwhelmingly positive and supportive."

Simple changes which can be made by businesses include swapping plastic straws for paper ones and not using plastic cups or cutlery, while around the home swapping liquid soap for bars and plastic cotton buds for paper ones, can all make a difference.

"Everybody can do something," said Kirstie. "We are not expecting people to change everything overnight, but they can do little things at a time.

Anyone wanting to get involved or learn more about Plastic Free Falmouth can search for the group on Facebook and a new website, plasticfreefalmouth.org is currently being developed.