Wow! This WILL be a good impact!! If Italy uses 25% of all the plastic bags in the EU…I can only imagine how much the US uses world wide….

I do like how a bunch of the stores are pushing the reusable bags now though. I know at Lowe’s, we are trying to get customers to buy them for $.98 and then re-use em so we don’t have to buy as many plastic bags for the customers…and I have noticed a lot of people are bringing in their own reusable bags. So that makes me happy to see that too 🙂 Do you think they will ever actually ban plastic bags in the US?

I read that Italy makes up only 7% of the European Union so 25% is indeed a huge number.
That’s great that Lowe’s is offering reusable bags for their customers!
Many cities in the US have already banned or put a tax on single-use plastic bags, but whether or not the country as a whole will ban them, I’m unsure. If it does happen, I’m thinking it’ll take quite a while. People need to bring reusable bags with them wherever they go and reject plastic bags so that those who’ve not yet taken the step to eliminate them can get the message. Writing to a city official and letting them know you’d like your town to ban or tax plastic bags could definitely help!

We have this in Ireland in years now. We all bring reuseable bags to do our shopping. If you forget your bag, there is an option to buy a plastic bag but they are 15 cent each or more. It was a great incentive to get people to stop using them. In clothes stores, you get a paper bag with your purchases- no plastic are given out for free. No one uses plastic bags now and it’s great

All things nice – Thank you for visiting my blog and leaving a comment! That’s great about Ireland, I didn’t know. I lived in England for a year and definitely didn’t notice anything like that. Would be nice if they’d take an example. It doesn’t look as though Italy will be changing their clothing store bags, I could be mistaken, but it’d be very nice if they did. Everywhere I’ve looked, it says that Italy’s single-use plastic bags will be replaced by biodegradable, paper, or reusable bags.

What great news! And what a surprise, too. All of Italy! 😀 It’ll certainly have a positive impact. ^_^

As for whether the whole U.S. will do the same…I dunno. :/ People can be so stubborn here, ha! 😛 My own dad has said he wouldn’t and won’t use reusable bags, that the plastics are just more convenient and he would forget to bring the reusable bag in. :[ Since he does most of the grocery shopping, I have to collect the bags that we can’t reuse and gather them up and have dad take them back to the grocery store to drop off in the recycling bin at the door…recycling plastics can be an iffy thing, I know, but it’s better than letting them go to waste/stick around in the environment forever. ^^’

At least you’re recycling the plastic. You never know though, with enough convincing, my parents started using reusable bags when grocery shopping in the States. Here in Switzerland, plastic bags aren’t offered in most places so you must take your own bags. I really hope America steps it up soon!