Pupils caught drinking from plastic bottles will be treated like smokers behind the bike sheds, the headmaster of a leading private schools has said.

Any students or teachers who brings plastic straws and non-biodegradable cups onto school premises could be punished if necessary, according to Richard Cairns who is head of Brighton College.

He said that taking these plastic products to school will be treated as “anti-social” behaviour, and anyone who falls foul of the new rules will be treated in the same way as if they were caught smoking cigarettes.

“Initially, we will enforce the changes with a system of formal warnings for pupils breaking the rules,” Mr Cairns said.

“But there is also the appetite, if it proves necessary, to use sanctions – in large part, because the potential for sanctions highlights the significance of the issue”.

He told how many pupils at the £38,000-a-year boarding school were “really shaken” by scenes on David Attenborough’s Blue Planet 2 of marine animals being strangled by plastic.