Retailers are being asked to hand over stocks of mephedrone before the drug becomes illegal on Friday.
It will be classified as a Class B drug, the possession of which could carry a five-year prison sentence.
The Local Government Association said council staff are working to ensure the "potentially damaging drug is cleared from shelves as quickly as possible".
Sold on the internet labelled as "plant food", mephedrone has been linked with several UK deaths.
From Friday, dealing the drug will carry a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.
The Local Government Association (LGA), which covers England and Wales, said council officers have been contacting retailers and offering them the chance to voluntarily hand over stocks of mephedrone before its sale becomes an offence.
'Political pressure'
Council-employed trading standards officers in Norfolk have already confiscated plant food believed to contain the drug.
And staff in Haringey, north London, have visited shops which they believe are selling the substance.
The move to ban the drug comes despite the resignation of two government drugs advisers over the issue.
Earlier this month, Eric Carlin followed Dr Polly Taylor by stepping down from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD).
Mr Carlin, in his resignation letter, said the decision to ban the drug was made despite there being "little or no discussion about how our recommendation to classify this drug would be likely to impact on young people's behaviour".
He added that the decision to ban the drug was "unduly based on media and political pressure".
This is all well and good except I'm now in desperate need of some food for my plants!
