Councillors unanimously supported the motion put forward by Councillor Andrea Dawkins at this week's meeting.

There is also a push for other facilities such as UTAS Stadium and the Launceston Aquatic Centre to phase out single use plastics, making use of the "long lead-time" of three years to prepare for the change.

Cr Dawkins said the council needed to show leadership in eliminating plastics from the waste cycle.

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"This means items like plastic cutlery, plates, cups and straws will need to be replaced by a variety of bioplastics and paper products readily available and being used at many events already," she said.

Cr Dawkins cited global and local impacts of the proliferation of plastic waste as strengthening her push for change, including a study by the Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies that found Bicheno had the highest concentration of microplastic filaments in Australia.

"Nowhere is immune from plastic pollution," she said.

"We have a chance here today to show our community we are listening, that we will act, and that we understand there is still more to do."

The City of Hobart chose to introduce a ban on the use of plastics in takeaway food packaging by 2020, but encountered a backlash from the business community who saw the short timeframe as unworkable.

Councillor Rob Soward said Launceston had paid attention to this debate and came up with a better solution.

"This is a really good lead-in time in my view," he said.

"Obviously businesses ... have contracts that can't be changed tomorrow."

Break O'Day Council voted this week to request that the Local Government Association of Tasmania lobby the Tasmanian Government to "take leadership" in finding a way to remove single use plastics in takeaway food packaging.

Launceston councillors also voiced their concern that the state government was not moving fast enough on removing plastics, and a container deposit scheme should be a priority.

Cr Soward said it was past time to argue the merits of reducing the use of plastics, and the government needed to take the lead.

Councillor Tim Walker agreed, and said it was councils who had to pick up the burden of dealing with excess waste.

"It should be the state government who take the lead on this, and it's disappointing that they haven't," he said.

"It's extremely disappointing that they haven't taken the lead on a container deposit scheme."

"It may be because the council is closest to the people, but we're also closest to the problems. And this is a fundamental problem in our society.

"It's not a puzzle that is difficult to solve, and this is the first step forward to lead the way for our community to begin these changes."