California bans the use of plastic bags

According to media reports, California has officially banned the use of plastic bags and became the first US state to have implemented the decision. With this decision, 25 million plastic bags a day will reportedly be disposed.

The reports indicate that the decision came out of a referendum on the subject in which the voters who are in favor of banning the plastic bags won by 51.97% over 48.3% despite the campaigns heavily run by the plastic bag industry.

Similar decisions have been taken in many other countries around the world to reduce the consumption of plastic bags. Morocco, Italy, Bangladesh and Netherlands are among the countries which have completely banned the use of plastic bags while Germany, China and the UK implemented taxes on the use of plastic bags as a deterrent.