Supermarket plastic bag use down 80% in 2017, saving over 7,000 tons of plastic

The Environmental Protection Ministry announced on Sunday that the 10 agorot (2.8 cents) charge for supermarket plastic bags has led to an 80 percent drop in their use by consumers.

The “plastic bag law,” which came into effect on January 1, 2017, has saved over 7,091 tons of non-recyclable plastic each year, the ministry said.

According to the report, 2017 saw some 378 million single-use plastic bags used by customers at the major supermarket chains, compared to 1.753 billion in 2016.

Local convenience stores, markets and other retail businesses are not required to charge customers for bags.

According to the ministry, prior to the new law’s enactment, the average Israeli used 275 plastic bags per year, adding up to about two to three billion plastic bags across the country each year and accounting for approximately 7% of Israel’s waste.

Environmental Protection Minister Ze’ev Elkin hailed the announcement, saying “the results speak for themselves, and the citizens of Israel have warmly embraced the environmental change and the economic savings inherent in this.”

According to Elkin, future goals for the reduction of the use of plastic bags have been set on the basis of the success of the law.

Global plastic production increased to 380 million metric tons (418 million tons) in 2015 from 2 million metric tons in 1950, according to research by Roland Geyer, a professor of industrial ecology at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

About 60% of the 8.3 billion metric tons of plastic produced throughout history has ended up as waste, with more than three-fourths of that going into landfills or nature, Geyer estimated. In 2010 alone, between 4 million and 12 million metric tons of plastic entered the marine environment.

The material kills and maims wildlife and makes its way into the food chain.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.