Press Centre Publications

Greenpeace International
Home
Hom e

About Us
Ne ws

Blogs

Get involved

search

What we do

News

Donate

Mak ing W ave s

6 amazing plastic bans from around the world

Sign in New here? Sign up!

News
Blogs

Like

8.8K

Email

Share

Making Waves

Nuclear Reaction

6 amazing plastic bans from around the world

Blogpost by Fiona Nicholls - 4 August, 2016 at 13:02

Add com m e nt

Energydesk
Bunny McDiarmid
Jennifer Morgan

Good news! Plastics bans across the world have been hitting the headlines lately.
From the US to India and Morocco, governing bodies are taking control of the plastic pollution
problem, bringing in either complete bans on plastic, or bans on specific forms like polystyrene.

Deep Green
Feature Stories

Get involved

open in browser PRO version

Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API

pdfcrowd.com

Get involved
Email address
Please select country/region

Follow us on...

Troy Mayne / Oceanic Imagery Publications

1. Karnataka, India
In March this year, the Indian state of Karnataka completely banned the use of plastic across
the state. No wholesale dealer, retailer, or trader can now use or sell plastic carrier bags,
plastic plates, plastic cups, plastic spoons, cling film, or anything of the sort. Since the ban came
into effect four months ago 39,000kg of illegal plastic has been seized
from Bengalaru, the
state capital.
They even made sure to ban microbeads while they were at it! Go Karnataka!

2. The US (okay, so theres a few places in the US)

Back in 2007, San Francisco became the first US city to ban plastic shopping bags
and in
2014, the city banned plastic water bottles
on city properties. Last month, San Francisco
joined Los Angeles and Portland and enforced a ban on styrofoam. Styrofoam is the material

open in browser PRO version

Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API

pdfcrowd.com

used for packaging peanuts, the contents of beans bags (do people still have bean bags?). Its
expanded polystyrene, also known as thermocol.
Polystyrene is a problem plastic because it's very difficult to
recycle. In the US, it's largely used for packaging eggs, meats and
fruit, and so a ban on this particular form of plastic will have a
larger impact that you may first think.
In July 2015, Honolulu, Hawaii introduced a ban on single use
plastic bags (with small exceptions, e.g. for medical use). The bill
was passed by County Councils, rather than by the state
legislature, which was a real victory for the local grassroots
organisations. People power!

3. Coles Bay, Tasmania

Leading the way back in 2003, Coles Bay, Tasmania was the first town in Australia to ban
disposable plastic bags. During the first year of the ban 350,000 fewer plastic bags were
used in the area!

4. Ethiopia
In 2011, Ethiopia passed a ban preventing the manufacture and import of disposable (aka
single use) plastic shopping bags. This ban was in conjunction with a decision to develop wind
power and geothermal energy projects, as part of Ethiopias Green Growth Strategy.

5. France
Last month

, France brought in a ban on single-use plastic bags

(less than 10L capacity and with a thickness of less than 50

microns, you know...microns!), like the ones handed out by major
supermarkets globally. This is part of a wider EU crackdown on
plastic use , acknowledging that plastic has a major impact on the
environment and must be addressed.

6. Morocco

open in browser PRO version

Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API

pdfcrowd.com

Morocco is (or was) the world's second largest consumer of plastic

bags
after the US. Their ban is pretty comprehensive, it includes a
stop on the production, import, sale and distribution of plastic bags, prompting a major rush on
plastic bag stockpiling
just before coming into effect. The resistance to the ban shows just
how ingrained plastic and plastic bags are in our day-to-day habits and highlights the
importance of a ban. Go Morocco!
These are just a few of the main plastics bans in place across the world, which is great, so why
is it important?
Plastic in the oceans is a real problem, already, huge gyres swirl with polluting plastic. And
we've seen the dire consequences

of marine life mistaking plastics for food.

Greenpeace is campaigning hard to end plastic pollution in our oceans. Add your name to the
Plastics Pledge

to help cut plastic pollution!

Fiona Nicholls is an Oceans campaigner with Greenpeace UK.

Categories oce ans , tox ics

Tags m arine plastic, oce an plastic, plastic bans , plastics
Pre vious: W hy Pacific Islande rs will le ad the ..

Ne x t: Ne ws worth ce le brating! Me gadam in the ..

No comments are found

Add com m e nt

Post a comment
To post a com m ent y ou need to be signed in.

open in browser PRO version

Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API

pdfcrowd.com

O PTIO NAL: R e giste r to avoid filling out form s e ach tim e you post a com m e nt Sign Up He re login via
Face book or Google

Sign in

What we do

About us

Multimedia

Climate Change

Press Centre

Photos

Forests
Oceans
Ecological Farming
Toxic Pollution
Nuclear

Introduction
Victories
Ships

Videos
Slideshows
Ship Webcams

Frequently Asked
Questions
Work for Greenpeace

National and regional

websites in English

Greenpeace online

Facebook

Africa

Flickr

Australia Pacific
Canada
East Asia

Twitter
Greenpeace around
the world

YouTube

EU Unit
India
New Zealand
Philippines
Southeast Asia
United Kingdom
United States

open in browser PRO version

Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API

pdfcrowd.com

 GREENPEACE 2016

Privacy and Cookies

open in browser PRO version

Copyright

Community policy

Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API

Home

About us

Contact us

Press centre

Mobile version

pdfcrowd.com