I'm willing to bet there haven't been many examples of the Big Apple following the example of a tiny English village, but rumour has it that New York is set to go the way of Modbury and crack down on plastic bag usage.
While an all-out ban seems optimistic, a proposal was introduced on Monday that requires all stores larger than 5,000 square feet to set up an in-store recycling program and sell reusable bags.
They would also have to display 'reminders' on plastic bags, asking shoppers to return them to participating stores for recycling.
It's now up to Mayor Michael Bloomberg to approve the bill. But this isn't the first American city to take action; San Francisco has already banned plastic bags from large supermarkets.
Why is it that Ireland is never mentioned with reference to these stories.
I was in Ireland in 2004 and since they started taxing plastic bags in 2002 they'd pretty much disappeared by the time I got there.
You don't need to ban them to stop people using them, just make them more expensive than the alternatives!
Good point, Ireland has been hugely successful in its bag tax, reducing usage by up to 90% in some areas and much credit is due for that.
The only reason I didn't mention the example set in Ireland here was that I was comparing the New York plan with similar ones in other parts of the States.