Israel: Bill to ban free plastic bags approved

The Knesset (Parliament) has approved the first reading of a bill prohibiting supermarkets in Israel from giving out plastic bags for free. Customers will have to come to the market with their own, reusable bags, or they will have to shell out money for plastic bags.
If approved, the law would obligate supermarkets to charge at least NIS 0.30 for plastic bags for two years. The price would then go down to NIS 0.20, and ultimately, to NIS 0.10. Each household would get a coupon for 7 free reusable bags, to be paid for by the supermarkets. Customers can use those reusable bags for their groceries instead of plastic bags (News Release Israel Ministry of Environmental Protection, 28 October 2014).
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