Biodegradable bag

Take a look under under the kitchen sink in a typical Greek home. In all likelihood you will find a pile of plastic bags, collected from each visit to the supermarket or local kiosk. Unfortunately, these bags more often than not end up being used to collect trash, and are rarely used to carry groceries again.

The use of plastic bags in markets and stores will be restricted across Turkey starting in 2018, the Turkish Retailers' Federation (TPF) announced on March 28, state-run Anadolu Agency has reported.

TPF head Mustafa Altunbilek said the decision was made in an effort to reduce waste, adding that they were planning to motivate customers to use cloth or other non-plastic bags.

The EU member states must limit the use of plastic bags by 80% by 2019, according to amendments passed by the European Parliament at first reading. 

The MEPs recommended the imposing of taxes, limitations and bans on use of plastic bags. According to them the discarded plastic bags are one of the main environmental pollutants.