With South Australia and Victoria to ban plastic bags, now the State Opposition wants Western Australia to become the third state in the country to impose a ban on the use of plastic shopping bags.

The opposition's spokeswoman for the Environment Sally Talbot will introduce a Private Members Bill to ban the use of plastic bags in WA as when the parliament resume next month.

In reference to plastic bags posing harm to the environment Dr Talbot claimed, "The effect on wildlife caught up in plastic bag debris is significant and the damage they cause to recreational equipment like boat engines, diving gear and jet intakes is well documented and substantial."

Since Western Australia uses 400 million plastic shopping bags each year out of which mere 3% is recycled and rest end up in the environment or in landfill. Hence in such a scenario Dr Tablot insisted that it was very afflicting that the recent Environment Protection and Heritage Council meeting in Perth had failed to reach an agreement about imposing a national ban on plastic bags.

The exemptions for plastic bags devoid of handles would ensure that the ban would not hamper the hygienic storing of food.

Also with the emergence of wide support for a ban from all round Western Australia, several WA councils and communities including Albany and Fremantle have raised to the curb the menace.