The London Assembly recommends a free plastic bag ban.

Paper bags could see a rise in popularity after the London Assembly called on the government to ban supermarkets from giving out free plastic bags.

It also urged mandatory charges on all single-use plastic bags, after the grocery chains failed to reduce the number of bags they were handing out to shoppers.

Assembly members unanimously agreed on the motion to urge the secretary of state for the environment to enact legislation which is part of the Climate Change Act 2008.

This would force retailers to introduce a levy, which could help result in a significant reduction of plastic waste in the UK, while also assisting in changing the public's perceptions of shopping bags.

New figures from waste reduction body Wrap have shown that almost eight billion carrier bags were used in 2011, which is a 5.4 per cent rise on the year before.
This equates to each UK resident using around 11 bags per month.

Discussing the motion, assembly member, Jenny Jones claimed: "Free supermarket plastic bags are a myth; they cost us a lot more money to deal with," due to them being taken to landfill.

"Almost 1.5 billion are given out in London every year, most destined to be used for no more than 20 minutes before being thrown away," she added.

"The shame is that discarded bags are one of the easiest environmental problems to solve - simple levy introduced in Ireland cut their number by 90 per cent - yet in England, the number being given out by the big supermarkets is actually rising.

Assembly members concluded with the fact that England is falling behind other UK countries in reducing plastic bag use, as Wales has already introduced a charge on single-use bags and Scotland and Northern Ireland are due to follow suit soon.