Banning the Bags & Skipping the Straws
• More than 60 countries have introduced bans and levies to curb single-use plastic waste.
• The vast majority of plastic bans were introduced in 2017 and 2018, marking a recent, global, plastic-free movement.
ASIAN COUNTRIES ENACTING BANS AND CHARGES ON PLASTIC BAGS
1999
BHUTAN
Plastic bag ban
2002
BANGLADESH
Plastic bag ban
June 2008
CHINA
Limiting production,
sale and use of
plastic shopping bags
for retail purposes
through charging
for plastic bags
April 2011
MYANMAR
Plastic bag ban in Yangon
2013
PHILIPPINES
Plastic bags,
plastic cups and
styrofoam food
containers banned
in Makati, Manila’s
financial district
2015
HONG KONG
Charge for plastic bags
January 2017
ISRAEL
Charge for plastic bags
OCTOBER 2017
CAMBODIA
Charge for plastic bags
JANUARY 2018
SRI LANKA
Ban on single-use
plastics
DECEMBER 2018
INDONESIA
Ban on single-use plastic
bags in Bogor and Bali
2019
UZBEKISTAN
Charge for
plastic bags
JANUARY 2019
LEBANON
Plastic bags banned in Byblos
JANUARY 2019
SOUTH KOREA
Plastic bag ban
in supermarkets
MARCH 2019
MONGOLIA
Plastic bag ban
2022
INDIA
Aims to eliminate all
single-use plastics
2030
MALAYSIA
Will abolish singleuse
plastics and will
introduce plastic
bag charge
2030
TAIWAN
Blanket ban on
all single-use
plastics – straws,
utensils, bags
