Irish Ban Makes Plastic Bags Rare

Back in 2002, the Irish government passed a tax on plastic bags. Use of the bags that molder in landfills, catch in trees and refuse to break down and disappear dropped by 94 percent within weeks, according to the New York Times.

Similar bans in China and Australia have yet to meet with success and even local efforts have foundered on strong opposition. The New York City council aimed for a ban but settled for a requirement that companies that hand them out must also take them back.

It may have been the steep tax--33 cents per bag--or the fact that such plastic totes were not manufactured in Ireland and therefore did not have a strong political constituency that allowed the ban to succeed on the Emerald Isle. But the rest of the world uses at least 42 billion plastic bags a month, perhaps the Irish can show the way to break that oil-related addiction.

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