Shirley Lewis, also known as the Bag Lady, has campaigned in Australia, Britain and Northern Ireland since 2001 and has secured funding from both the Australian and British governments.

Lewis, who is from Ballymena, has also promised to wear plastic bags for the next decade to highlight the cause. Speaking to the Sunday Tribune, Lewis said she was hopeful that her ambition for a rubbish-free world within 10 years would be successful.

"It's not just plastic bags, " she said, "but all kinds of rubbish. Broken political promises, three for the price of two things and all that crap. It's very urgent."

Lewis (61) left Ireland in 1970 after studying at Trinity College in Dublin and moved to Australia, where her campaign was born.

"I was looking for one simple thing to do to make a difference in Australia before I left and I picked plastic bags, " she said.

"Everyone agrees that plastic bags are awful.

The timing of it was really amazing. I got the support from the government, the two main supermarket chains and an organisation called Clean Up Australia.

"I launched a plastic bag awareness week and that campaign is still going strong. Now in Australia, 40-45% of Australian shoppers say no to plastic bags."

Lewis then invented the character Bag Lady and, when she returned to the North in 2001, began filming areas full of rubbish.

In 2003 and 2004 she worked with local authorities to highlight the excessive use of plastic bags and secured funding from the North's Environment and Heritage Service to work with 10 councils, 34 towns and villages, and 2,000 shops.

The next step for Bag Lady is to host a NEEDabag party in Belfast on 31 March.

"DUP and Sinn F�in know very little about the environment, so we are going to be making very strong statements, " Lewis said.

As for her chosen attire for the next three years: "I do take them off, " she said. "They're very hot and they tend to be sticky."