ANKARA
Since Turkey banned the handing out of most free plastic bags nearly a year ago, usage of the bags has fallen by over three-fourths, according to government data.
With usage dropping 77.27%, some 150,000 tons of plastic have been saved over the last 11 months, said Environment and Urbanization Ministry officials.
Worldwide, 5 trillion plastic bags are used annually, including 35 billion in Turkey, or nearly 35 bags per person per month, before the policy change last Jan. 1, said the data.
Most plastic bags are now sold for 0.25 Turkish liras ($0.05), including 0.15 liras ($0.03) which goes
Read more: Turkey: In 2019, free bag ban made plastic use plummet
