Since January 1st of this year Italy has joined the ranks of certain U.S. cities by imposing a ban on plastic bags.
This is the first nationwide plastic bag ban.
Stores will be able to use up the reminder of their bag supplies but after they are gone they must switch to paper, biodegradable plastic, or cloth bags.
Italy accounts for one-fifth of Europe’s bag use at 20 billion per year.
European news outlets are reporting that the ban will not come as an easy change. A certain complaint being that the paper or biodegradable plastic bags will be weaker than regular plastic.
I recommend Morocco enact this ban too. Plastic bags feel to be a way of life here. When I go out to buy my vegetables, each different kind is placed in a bag and then all of them are placed in another plastic bag. When I hit up a shop to buy one item a bag is quickly pulled out. I have a hard time taking them and I often bring my own reusable bag much to the shop owners’ confusion.
Two phrases that I have said a lot are “I have a bag” or “I don’t need a bag”.
There is so much trash on the streets we should be using all those excess plastic bags to hold it.
Another way to reduce plastic bag use it to charge for them.
After beginning a five-cent fee on plastic bags Washington D.C. saw an 85 percent drop in use in one month.
Since this whole movement began I think we’ve become a lot smarter with the use of plastic bags. Lots of large grocery chains offer reusable bags for purchase. They are the strongest option in grocery bags we are doing a lot of good by using them.
Read Greenbiz.com’s original article here.