Bans
Plastic bags are either restricted or completely banned in more than 25 percent of the world. Belgium, Italy (total ban since January 1, 2011), Ireland and Hong Kong have legislation discouraging the use and encouraging the recycling of plastic bags by imposing a fixed or minimum levy for the supply of plastic bags or obliging retailers to recycle. In other jurisdictions, including three states and territories of Australia, Bangladesh, South Africa and Thailand, plastic bags are banned.
In the United States bans were imposed on local level, starting with San Francisco in 2007. In 2008, Westport, Connecticut banned plastic bags in grocery stores. In 2009, Edmond, Washington banned plastic bags at retail stores. In 2010, Los Angeles County, Brownsville, Texas, Bethel, Alaska approved similar bans. In the first few months of 2011, bans went into effect in North Carolina’s Outerbanks Region, banning all plastic bags at all retailers. Similar bans on municipality level were imposed in India, Mexico and UK.
Taxes
The plastic bag levy introduced in Ireland in 2002, resulted in a reduction of over 90% in the issuing of plastic shopping bags; the total reduction in plastic bag use was less than that due to increased use of commercial trash bin-liners in place of the free shopping bags previously used by many consumers. Sales of bin-liners have increased by 400% according to one industry source. The "ban on free plastic bags" in China introduced in 2008 resulted in a reduction by two thirds. In the United States, the five-cent tax levied on plastic bags in Washington, DC in 2010 resulted in a decrease in consumption from 22.5 million to 3 million bags in the first month alone. A study issued by the non-profit group American for Tax Reform found that the District of Columbia’s five-cent bag tax had a disproportionate impact on the city’s poor and cost the city over 100 jobs.
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