The most obvious message being broadcast from Selkirk's Market Place yesterday was a reminder of the town's status as the home of its eponymous bannock.

But while the faded advertisement for the popular fruit cake writ large on the wall above the door of Grieves Snack Attack was plain to see, a modest new poster in the window of a small tweed and gift shop opposite was attracting far more attention.

The simple white A4 sheet in Hinnigan promotes a mass giveaway of 1,000 free recycled cotton shopping bags due to take place today at high noon.

It marks the first day of Selkirk's new status as the first town in Scotland to become plastic bag free in a bid to protect the environment and wildlife from harm caused by needless rubbish and waste.

The bags feature a picture designed by primary school children depicting the court house in the town's colours of blue and scarlet.

Inside shop owner Anna Hinnigan describes the impact of the initiative, which she has helped protagonist and fellow town trader, grandmother Jenna Agate, to set up.

Mrs Hinnigan, a 37-year-old businesswoman and married mother-of-two, says: "I have only just put that poster up and I've already had a few ladies in asking for the bags. We are handing them out to local people because we feel that if the town is going to support this then we should support the town, too. At the moment these kinds of bags might cost people £5 or £10 to buy."

While organisers of Selkirk Plastic Bag Free hope that recycled cotton bags will become the norm in Selkirk, they are also persuading shops to switch from plastic bags to cornstarch carriers.

As the name suggests these strange-sounding items are created from corn and can be composted like vegetable waste when they are worn out, generally after around 18 months of use.

Understandably perhaps, there have been concerns that such bags might not be tough enough to withstand the weight of heavier goods. But Mrs Hinnigan says that an impromptu trial run with a bottle of wine and another of olive oil which she conducted earlier this week convinced her of the carriers' credentials.

At the Co-op further down the street where plastic bags became a thing of the past on Monday, shoppers seem happy about the change.

Loading his groceries into two eco-friendly cloth bags entrepreneur Neil Miller, 41, who lives just outside the nearby hamlet of Lillyleaf, says: "It's very important for the environment. It takes 1,000 years for a plastic bag to decompose. I think it's really good for Selkirk to lead the way in this, I'd like to see it expanded into the Lothians and Edinburgh, and across the country."

However, as the first to make the change, the Co-op has also found that not everyone has warmed to the idea.

Faced with paying 5p for a cornstarch bag, 99p for a cloth carrier or the option to bring their own, several customers have chosen another unadvertised alternative - taking their custom elsewhere.

They do not have far to go to reach rival supermarket chain Somerfield, which is one of just four of the town's 108 shops not to have signed up to the scheme.

Although manager Ian Jones says the initiative is a good thing and that Somerfield is likely to change its policy soon, he is aware that his branch has benefitted from rising trade as Co-op shoppers vote with their feet.

He says: "A lot of feedback we hear from customers is that they would like the choice of being offered a free carrier bag or an environmentally friendly alternative. They would not like to lose the plastic carriers and they object to being asked to pay for them."

Elsewhere the Royal and Ancient Burgh shows signs of being traditional to the point of backwardness rather than visionary - a trip to the public conveniences costs 30p, including a ticket which, even if printed on recycled paper, is hardly environmentally friendly.

But organisers claim that a walk down the High Street will reveal many people carrying their own shopping bags, and yesterday that held true.

Some had no bags at all.

Clutching her shopping in her arms, Marjorie Moore, 57, an assistant at the Selkirk Deli, says: "I've already got into the habit of saying no when I am offered plastic bags in shops. I think this is a really good idea. I normally bring bags with me but I've come out without one today."

Although 96% of shops are on board, they include several who have pledged to switch from plastic to alternatives like paper only once their current carrier stock has run out because they cannot afford to write off the cost of the bags.

But as the initiative goes live they appear to be struggling to offload them.

At Halliwells butchers in the Market Place, where owner Gordon Newlands still has thousands of carriers to give away, customer Audrey Prentice, 42, takes and then returns a plastic carrier after remembering to use her own eco-friendly bag instead.

"You can see everyone coming in with their own bags now so it has obviously made a difference, although I don't think we will ever become completely plastic free," she says.