The List is Life: Countries that have Enacted Bans on Plastic Bags

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