Italy to ban plastics shopping bags wef January 1

03-Jan-11

Italy, one of the top users of plastic shopping bags in Europe, is banning them with effect from January 1, 2011. Retailers have been banned from providing shoppers polyethylene bags. They can use bags made of such material as biodegradable plastic, cloth or paper. As per Reuters, retailers warn of chaos and many stores seem ready for the switch. Italians use about 20 billion bags a year, translating to more than 330 per person. This amounts to about one-fifth of the total used in Europe. Italy's rubber and plastics federation estimated the cost of changing over machines to make biodegradable bags was 30,000 euros (US$39,440) to 50,000 euros per plant.