In our ongoing quest to rid the world of plastic bags, I was delighted to see this little item about a simple strategy that enabled Ireland to rid itself of this horrible noxious scourge.
By ‘bagging it,’ Ireland rids itself of a plastic nuisance – International Herald Tribune:
In a determined attempt to deal with litter, Ireland passed a plastic bag tax in 2002 – now 22 euro cents, about 33 U.S. cents – at the register if you want one with your purchases. There was an advertising awareness campaign. Then something happened that was bigger than the sum of these parts.
Within weeks, there was a 94 percent drop in plastic bag use. Within a year, nearly everyone bought reusable cloth bags, which they now keep in the office and the back of their cars. Plastic bags became socially unacceptable – on par with wearing a fur coat or not cleaning up after your dog.
I found your site on technorati and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you.
Mike Harmon
Funny that you happen to post this link this weekend. I was up at IKEA in E. Palo Alto on Saturday and discovered they now charge 5 cents a plastic bag (in Sweeden it’s more like 25 cents, but it’s a start). Almost no one in line was buying the bags. Just goes to show you that the American people will adapt if they have to pay.
Thanks guys. My friend said that the only things Americans recycle is fashion. I wish it weren’t true.