AN EXCLUSIVE eco-friendly bag shop has opened in Yarmouth.

My Funky Bags is a venture run by husband and wife, Eren Baslar and Molly Linton, from Cowes.

The shop in the High Street sells different coloured bags made from recycled packing tape and water bottles and also has a soft furnishings section as part of the Linton Homes range.

Molly, originally from Australia, had lived in Asia for 20 years and met Eren, who is from Turkey, there.

She worked for Richard Branson in television and radio while Eren was in shipping.

She explained: "We came to the Island about three years ago to visit my brother in Cowes and we just fell in love with the place. We knew it was where we wanted to live and set up a business.

"We took a year off and travelled around Asia. It was there we came across a wet fish market where there was no single-use plastic.

"There were people weaving these bags which were made out of recycled plastic so they could put their wet fish into them.

"So, for the next couple of years we explored how we could make our own product with single use plastic.

"We now work with a recycling company which recycles plastic off the street, from tips, rivers and oceans.

"The plastic is broken down into flakes and recycled into strips of tape and we have a team of 20 ladies in Indonesia who weave the tape into bags for us.

"We launched the range at last year's Cowes Sailing Regatta and it's been a huge success. We have sold around 5,000 bags over the last 12 months and 50 per cent have gone to people from the Island.

"We have been travelling around to all the various events during the year selling the bags, but this is our first shop and Yarmouth is an ideal place for us to base our business."