Ban all plastic bags

Ian Kiernan is calling for a total ban on plastic bags in Australia:

1/9/07
Ban all plastic bags Says Clean Up Australia Chairman
Border Mail, Wodonga, Victoria, Australia

THE failure of a levy to curb use of plastic bags in Ireland confirms a complete ban is necessary, the founder of the Clean Up Australia movement says.
Clean Up Australia chairman Ian Kiernan said yesterday that privately commissioned polling showed Australians would support such a ban...

Plastic bag levy failing

The success of the Irish plastax is dimming. Bag use is back up:

January 8, 2007
Plastic bag levy failing
Sunanda Creagh

IRELAND'S levy on plastic bags, once heralded as a market solution to an environmental problem, has failed to curb the country's plastic addiction, prompting calls from Australian environment groups for a total ban here.

The number of bags used in Ireland dropped to 85 million in a year after the levy was introduced in 2002, but was back up to 115 million in 2005 and has risen steadily since.
At the end of this month, the Irish Government will increase the levy by seven Euro cents (12 cents) from 15 Euro cents...

Irish bag tax hailed success

The Plastax really works. We need one in the US:

Irish bag tax hailed success

20 August, 2002,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/2205419.stm
BBC News

Stores including Tesco have welcomed the tax.

A tax on plastic shopping bags in the Republic of Ireland has cut their use by more than 90% and raised millions of euros in revenue, the government says...