SIX-year-old Jessica Oliver has joined the war against plastic ­— and has already secured her first victory.

The schoolgirl has inspired her local dry-cleaning and ironing business to swap plastic coverings for the environmentally friendly bio-degradable ones whilst working towards her Rainbow's Recycling Badge.

And now she has been spurred in to action to convince others to follow suit.

The Tyntesfield Primary pupil said: "I came up the idea as I watched a nature programme on plastic in the sea and how it was killing the sea life such as whales etc. I saw that my daddy picked his shirt up from the ironing man and there were plastic covers over each shirt.

"When he took them off there was a big pile of plastic waste to put in the bin."

Jessica, who lives in Sale, said Liberty Ironing, 22 Eastway, Sale, was more than happy to try the new coverings.

"He was very interested and happy to try the new bags as he had some customers who didn’t want the plastic covers going over their shirts and ironing as they were worried about the plastic too and what they were doing to the world," she said.

Jessica added: "I am really proud that he is doing this now.­ I hope that other businesses will do the same thing as it is so so easy to do and has a great impact on helping to look after our environment."

And she has since ­ convinced the company which supplies her stickers to swap their postal bags to those which are bio-degradable.

Jessica, who is a member of Third Ashton on Mersey South Rainbow, added: "Every change no matter how small makes a difference and by doing this one small thing hopefully other businesses will look at this and think it’s a good idea and do it too ­— so their changes will add to this one small change and eventually will make one big massive change.

"It was estimated this will save 2880 bags a month which is 34560 bags a year. "

Since working for her recycling badge, Jessica says she thinks more about the plastics used in today's society.

" I used to take my sandwiches to school in a plastic bag which will be thrown out at the end of each day. Now I use a recyclable sandwich box which gets washed each night and I use again the next day," she said.

Jessica says she believed young people can make a difference.

"We will become adults one day and if we are thinking about recycling and the environment now we will continue to help make the world better as adults. We can then pass on this message to younger children too."

Dad Dave said: "We are so proud of our daughter. She is very caring and loves nature and animals and is always thinking of ways to look after them and help them. "When she watched the programme about plastics in the sea it really did affect her and upset her. She often thinks now how she can help raise money or help look after animals and the environment. This is just one thing that she saw happening right in front of her as there was so much plastic waste coming into our house."

He added: "I think it shows just how conscious young minds are about the environment and how they are thinking into the future about how it is affecting our planet. I know the school Tyntesfield Primary is very environmentally conscious and they learn a lot about the environment at school which I think is amazing."

John Peers from the business said customers were pleased with the change.
He said: "I had been thinking about it for a while so it worked out quite well.
"There is too much plastic in the world and little changes go a long way.
"I think what Jessica did is really good."