Morocco Bans Plastic Bags

Morocco enacted a ban on the production and use of plastic bags last month, but there are concerns from environmental groups that consumers may need time — years, even — to comply with the new law.

The law bans the production, import, sale and distribution of plastic bags countrywide. It’s part of a larger effort in the country to go green. In fact, the country ranks alongside Costa Rica, Bhutan and Ethiopia as the world’s greenest countries in part due to its ambitious goals to cut carbon emissions.

The plastic bag ban has been in the works for years, as they litter the country’s streets and beaches. Morocco is the second-largest plastic bag consumer after the United States, using about 3 million plastic bags per year.

The ban may take some getting used to, given that for every one of the country’s 34 million people, 900 bags a year are used. New York-based lawyer Jennie Romer told Al Jazeera: “It’s a big cultural shift with that type of broader law,” she said. “As long as the government has the motivation to really enforce that. There is a lot of potential. The government entity that is implementing it has to be completely on board in order to make that really happen in practice.”