THERE are thought to be more than 100 billion plastic bags littering our planet.

And now, Wirral wants to join other areas of the UK that have banned plastic bags altogether.

The Liberal Democrats have gained council support for their new campaign against plastic bags in Wirral.

In a motion to Wirral's Full Council meeting on Monday, Lib Dems proposed that the council takes the lead in persuading retailers and consumers that Wirral should be plastic bag free'.

Councillor Gill Gardiner, Cabinet member for the Environment said: "I'm very pleased that Wirral Council has seen the sense in our proposals. Plastic bags have been very much in the public eye recently and this seems like an excellent time to capture that mood and push for a plastic carrier bag-free Wirral.

"It's been estimated that over 17 billion plastic bags are handed out free by supermarkets in the UK every year and that the average time that people use a plastic bag is only 20 minutes.

"Over 200 million of them end up as waste on Britain's streets, parks and beaches, blighting our environment. Even when they are disposed of they can take 400 to 1000 years to degrade in our landfill sites.

"Now is the time for the council to lead the way in persuading retailers and consumers that making the switch to fabric, reusable bags is the right thing to do.

"Many organisations are doing good work promoting the use of reusable bags. What the country now needs though is political leadership, political inspiration, and political aspiration to move this campaign forward to success.

"Liberal Democrats will be campaigning to make Wirral plastic bag free by 2010."

They have also called on the Government to go further on their policy and consider ways to reduce plastic carrier bag usage.

Liberal Democrats are also urging people to make a New Year resolution and pledge to 'kick the habit' online at www.kickthehabit.wordpress.com.

Councillor Gardiner said: "You can sign up and say you'll stop using plastic bags in the New Year and leave hints and tips for those who are trying to kick the habit.

"Across the country we have seen many innovative schemes both from consumers, such as the lady in Mowbrey who persuaded all the shops in her village to make the switch from plastic bags, and from retailers - such as the Tesco clubcard scheme.

"We also saw recently the London councils seeking powers to levy a charge on plastic bags, such as they've done in Ireland, and in Ipswich the Borough has launched a series of products under the Choose2Reuse label - such as reusable bags, and will be banning the use of plastic bags within its own services and seeking voluntary agreements with retailers to reduce plastic bag use."