Wellington's Mayor is calling on the Government to crack down on soft plastics.

Nearly 9000 tonnes of plastic is being dumped in the city's landfills every year.

Last year $20,000 was spent on fencing, designed to try to capture bags being blown out of landfills.

Justin Lester told Mike Hosking that's not good enough.

"Unfortunately, a lot of that ends up in the waterways because they blow away, and we see it on a daily basis at our landfill," he said.

"They blow away, they end up in streams, end up in the ocean, so let's stop its source."

Lester said the Government should introduce a levy on single-use plastic bags.

"If they don't want to act nationally, then we're happy to do it on a local basis. We'll give them that power, if we had that option, but consistency means there's no competition question, so between Countdowns or your Foodstuffs."

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