A new report by the United Nations (UN) has provided an overview of the global thrust in the fight against single-use plastic. The topic made more headlines than usual after a whale died in southern Thailand, having ingested more than 80 plastic bags.
The new UN report focuses in detail on national-level regulation to ban or limit the use of plastic bags and styrofoam around the world.
The map above shows the state of global regulation to limit the use of plastic bags. There are total or partial national-level bans in several African countries a well as in India, France and Mongolia.
Some other countries including Ireland and Portugal have introduced economic measures such as taxing plastic bags.
In a significant move, the world’s largest furniture, furnishings & accessories retailer, Sweden’s IKEA (2017 revenues €38.3 billion or ₹3.05 lakh crores) announced that, by the end of 2019, it will ban single-use plastic products from its global stores and restaurants. IKEA will also come up with a range of plastic products that can be repaired, restored and recycled.
It feels good to see India being one of the only large countries on the planet to lead in taking measures to protect our environment.