The New Zealand government announced that it will ban the use of disposable plastic bags next year. Retailers in the country will have six months to stop offering lightweight plastic bags or face fines of up to NZ$100,000 (£51,000).
Prime Minister Jessinda Aden said that we are phasing out disposable plastic bags so that we can better maintain our environment and protect New Zealand's clean, green reputation.
In New Zealand, hundreds of millions of disposable plastic bags are used each year, many of which end up polluting our precious coastal and marine environments and causing serious damage to a variety of marine life, all of which provide viability for consumers and businesses. Alternative.
New Zealand is one of the countries with the highest per capita urban waste production in developed countries, using 750 million plastic shopping bags per year, about 154 per person. New Zealand's major supermarket chains and several large retailers in the country have indicated that they will be in 2018. Eliminate disposable tote bags before the end of the year.
More than 40 countries around the world banned the use of plastic bags. The United Nations reported that the first to do so was Bangladesh in 2002. In 2003, South Africa announced a ban on the use of plastic bags, and non-compliance would face huge fines and even imprisonment provisions.