The communities of Papunya and Haasts Bluff in central Australia have banned the sale of petrol in an effort to stop petrol sniffing.

Almost all Aboriginal communities to the west of Alice Springs have elected to replace petrol with aviation fuel which cannot be sniffed.

There are now just a few communities, including Mutitjulu, near Uluru, which still use petrol.

Central Australian Youth Link-Up Service spokesman Blair McFarland says Papunya will ban petrol from December 1 this year.

"The scale of the problem is very serious and everybody in the community is really worried about it," Mr McFarland said.

"There's just far too much petrol sniffing going on."

Mr McFarland said most Papunya petrol sniffers had a "chronic" addiction to the habit.