{"id":4608,"date":"2008-02-03T09:00:48","date_gmt":"2008-02-03T09:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/reformedchicksblabbing\/2008\/02\/irelands-tax-on-plastic-bags-s.html"},"modified":"2008-02-03T09:00:48","modified_gmt":"2008-02-03T09:00:48","slug":"irelands-tax-on-plastic-bags-s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/reformedchicksblabbing\/2008\/02\/irelands-tax-on-plastic-bags-s.html","title":{"rendered":"Ireland’s tax on plastic bags sees drop in usage"},"content":{"rendered":"

A pretty substantial drop!<\/a> It makes sense, why in the world would you want to pay 33 cents for a plastic bag?<\/p>\n

There is something missing from this otherwise typical bustling cityscape. There are taxis and buses. There are hip bars and pollution. Every other person is talking into a cellphone. But there are no plastic shopping bags, the ubiquitous symbol of urban life.
\nIn 2002, Ireland passed a tax on plastic bags; customers who want them must now pay 33 cents per bag at the register. There was an advertising awareness campaign. And then something happened that was bigger than the sum of these parts.
\nWithin weeks, plastic bag use dropped 94 percent. Within a year, nearly everyone had bought reusable cloth bags, keeping them in offices and in the backs of cars. Plastic bags were not outlawed, but carrying them became socially unacceptable \u2014 on a par with wearing a fur coat or not cleaning up after one\u2019s dog. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I would use cloth bags but I keep forgetting them and I would need to schlep 3 or 4 of them to the store every time I went. Not very convenient.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A pretty substantial drop! It makes sense, why in the world would you want to pay 33 cents for a plastic bag? There is something missing from this otherwise typical bustling cityscape. There are taxis and buses. There are hip bars and pollution. Every other person is talking into a cellphone. But there are no…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[405,399],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-environment-2","category-politics-2"],"yoast_head":"\nIreland's tax on plastic bags sees drop in usage - Reformed Chicks Blabbing<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/reformedchicksblabbing\/2008\/02\/irelands-tax-on-plastic-bags-s.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ireland's tax on plastic bags sees drop in usage - Reformed Chicks Blabbing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A pretty substantial drop! It makes sense, why in the world would you want to pay 33 cents for a plastic bag? There is something missing from this otherwise typical bustling cityscape. There are taxis and buses. There are hip bars and pollution. Every other person is talking into a cellphone. But there are no…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/reformedchicksblabbing\/2008\/02\/irelands-tax-on-plastic-bags-s.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Reformed Chicks Blabbing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-02-03T09:00:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Susan Johnson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ireland's tax on plastic bags sees drop in usage - Reformed Chicks Blabbing","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/reformedchicksblabbing\/2008\/02\/irelands-tax-on-plastic-bags-s.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ireland's tax on plastic bags sees drop in usage - Reformed Chicks Blabbing","og_description":"A pretty substantial drop! 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