MP Janet Anderson has declared war on the scourge of the plastic shopping bag.

She wants a tax of up to 10p on supermarket carriers to tackle the problem of dumped rubbish.

The Darwen and Rossendale MP is horrified by the waste involved in production of the bags and the way they are often dumped full of rubbish in back alleys in her constituency.

Tomorrow she will join Blackburn with Darwen Council's operations director Peter Hunt to look at the scale of the situation.

Already, Environment Minister Michael Meacher has confirmed that the idea is being seriously considered as one way of cutting the eight billion plastic bags used every year in the UK. The Government has been studying a similar move in Ireland which has slashed the use of carrier bags by 90 per cent.

Mrs Anderson believes making customers pay cash every time they take a carrier bag at the supermarket check-out will dramatically cut down on the number of bags used and wasted.

She said: "I now expect and hope the Government will legislate on such a tax.

"There is a major problem with these bags being dumped full of other rubbish in the alleys at the back of terrace houses in Darwen, Rossendale and the rest of East Lancashire.

"They are unsightly and unhygienic. It needs to be tackled. If people used fewer bags, they would be less likely to turn up in unhealthy piles at the back of people's homes."

Mr Hunt said: "We are throwing away more household rubbish now than ever before. Much of this is packaging -everything from cans to pizza boxes and ready-meal cartons. Packaging is of course extremely useful but there is surely no need for us to use the eight billion carrier bags that we get through in the UK every year.

"I support Janet Anderson's call for people to think carefully about the rubbish they generate, especially carrier bags.

A spokesman for Asda said they would support a plastic bag tax and added: "This is a very interesting idea and we will be watching it closely.

"We are also looking at other ways to minimise the amount of bags which are used so that in turn we can cut down on the number we have to make."

At Safeway, however, a spokeswoman said: "Safeway believes it is a matter of customer choice to re-use plastic carrier bags."