Israel sees 73 pc drop in disposable plastic bag use

Israel's Ministry of Environmental Protection published a report on how the implementation of Israel's law to reduce the use of disposable plastic bags affected 2022. The report came out on the occasion of International Day without single-use plastic bags.

In 2022, about 474 million bags made of plastic were provided by retailers to Israeli consumers, a 73 per cent reduction in the amount of plastic bags sold by large retailers compared to 2016, before the implementation of the law, Israel has seen. The law prevented the generation of bag waste in the amount of 4,156 tons in 2022.

In 2021, the volume was about 501 million plastic bags, a decrease of 71 per cent compared to 2016.

The single-use plastic bags are only used for a few minutes, but they take hundreds of years to decompose, and in the meantime, they pollute open spaces and water sources.

Today is an international day without single-use plastic bags, and data from the Ministry of Environmental Protection shows that the bag law enacted in 2016 continues to lead to a reduction in the consumption of plastic bags.

The purpose of the law to reduce the use of single-use carrier bags is to reduce the use of bags and reduce the amount of waste generated as a result of their use and the negative environmental effects of this waste, among other things by limiting the distribution of single-use carrier bags by dealers without compensation and by imposing a levy on their sale.