ConservingNow Community Change

After exploring many options to discourage citizens and retailers from using plastic bags, in 2002 the country of Ireland decided to charge all consumers a small amount of every plastic bag they used to bag their groceries.

The New York Times noted that much of the success in Ireland was do to the will of the people.

The citizens of Ireland wanted to use less plastic bags. During this same time, cloth or reusable bags have become incredibly popular and trendy. Additionally, Ireland is said to have a young population, eager to adopt measures in support of environmental benefits.

As of July 7, 2009, some 2,000 retail stores in Hong Kong will start charging HKD0.5 for each plastic bag provided to consumers.

The government plans to register retailers covered by the regulations; and these retailers include supermarkets, convenience stores, and personal care products shops.

The country of Bhutan first introduced a plastic bag ban in 1999.

This ban was further reinforced in 2005. Due to the difficulty in implementing the ban, the country reintroduced the ban again in May 2009.

In Bangladesh, plastic bags have been banned completely since early 2002.

Bangladesh discovered that plastic bags were choking the countries drainage system, which led to widespread flooding throughout the country in 1988 and 1998.