Clean Up Australia Day founder Ian Kiernan has called on the Federal Government to implement an immediate national ban on plastic grocery bags to halt the "nuclear" impact they are having on the environment.

The 1994 Australian of the Year said even though shoppers appeared to be embracing alternatives such as green grocery bags, Australians were still dumping 7150 recyclable plastic bags into landfill every minute, or 429,000 every hour.

Ian Kiernan ... 'Community cares and is prepared to do something'.

"The damage is incredibly substantial," Mr Kiernan said.

"Plastic just accumulates and it's been compared in the ocean to nuclear - it just doesn't go away."