The test result shows: The plastic bag law completely failed

Ministry of Environmental Protection is satisfied with the carrier-bag law, which came into force last year and prohibits the free distribution of plastic bags in retail chains. The numbers show a sharp decline in the use of bags in retail chains. In addition, the “Clean Coast Index” also improved, according to the Ministry’s 2017 report, which was the cleanest year for beaches in the last 12 years, and the carrier- bag law has a significant impact on the index.
However, the number of bags consumed by the public can not be a measure. This is because the purpose of the law is not to reduce the number of bags consumed, but to reduce the damage that the legislators believe us caused by these bags.
The work done at the Samuel Neaman Institute shows that carrier bags are not such a significant environmental nuisance, and that there are other policy means (instead of such a high tax) that can be used to reduce the use of bags.