Londoners are being invited to help shape the capital‘‘s future environmental policies by deciding whether or not to introduce a London-wide levy - or even an outright ban - on throw away shopping bags. London Councils has launched a public consultation to give Londoners the opportunity to tell them what they think of one of the key provisions that will make up the 10th London Local Authorities Bill (LLAB).

The organisation first announced its intention to tackle the issue of throw away shopping bags in July, and is now calling on Londoners to tell them what they want. This is a unique opportunity for the capital‘‘s residents to help shape and draft a future piece of legislation - and one that can make a significant difference to the environment.

The consultation asks the public its views on a range of options - from doing nothing, to an outright ban on all throw away shopping bags - or just for plastic ones. The consultation runs until Friday 26 October, and the views expressed in responses to the consultation will help shape the final proposal that will go into the 10th LLAB, due to be deposited in Parliament in November.

In the UK, over 13 billion bags are issued every year to shoppers - roughly 220 per person every year. For London, a conservative figure based on population size would indicate Londoners use at least 1.6 billion bags per year - although the number of tourists in the capital suggests that this figure is probably much higher.

While some of these bags will be re-used once or twice, official figures reveal that only one in 200 of these are recycled, meaning that billions of shopping bags are sent to landfill every year. Many of these will be plastic bags that can take over 400 years to break down.

The government, retailers and consumers recognise this as a problem, and many of them are already making efforts to reduce the amount of throw away shopping bags sent to landfill. London Councils agrees with these concerns, and wants to give Londoners a chance to lead the country in a bold initiative.