An average European uses almost 200 throwaway plastic bags a year. Almost 1,000,000 heaps of plastic bags are produced within the European Union. Europe’s lawmakers are searching for alternatives to using plastic and reducing the waste and litter that comes with them.

Many countries round the world are fighting against the use of plastic bags. In some countries, for example, China or African country, very thin plastic bags are banned. They choke the sewers. Last year, Italy banned plastic bags that don’t seem to be made out of organic substances. Some countries have prohibited the utilization of plastic bags altogether.

Within the US, however, there’s no real regulation and a few supermarkets offer them while others don’t.

In Ireland, the government introduced a 15-cent surcharge on plastic bags in 2002. Within a year, 90% shoppers of all shoppers started reusing their bags. several Euros earned by the tax are used on searching for new ways of recycling. In Wales, shop assistants are threatened with a fine if they distribute plastic bags freed from charge.

In contrast , experts argue that if shoppers use an alternative, stronger bags they need to use them fairly often so as to catch up on more carbon employed in production and transport. A cotton bag, for instance, must be used over 100 times to actually be environmentally friendly.

Food researchers see another danger. They claim that reusing bags may be an issue because harmful bacteria could also be left behind in grocery bags.

The European Union is observing ways to chop down pollution from plastic bags. Bags manufactured from corn are biodegradable on one side but produce methane gas on the opposite. Paper bags are widely utilized in the us. While being biodegradable they need a stronger carbon footprint than normal shopping bags. In Europe many shops are going back to paper bags, although environmental experts say they’re as bad as plastic ones.