A new law approved by Parliament introduced a series of steps to fight pollution.
Under the new government regulation, grocery stores in Turkey are obligated to charge customers 0.25 Turkish Liras for a single plastic bag. The regulation was introduced on Jan. 1 in a bid to reduce litter.
“GROCERY STORES CANNOT MAKE PROFIT FROM PLASTIC BAGS”
“On the first day of the implementation, we have seen a decrease of up to 50 percent for plastic bag usage in some places. We will see the results more clearly when we announce the figures in 10 to 15 days,” Ahmet Varır said, the head of a department spearheading the regulation at the Environment and Urbanization Ministry. “Grocery stores making profit from the plastic bag is not a matter of discussion. The regulation does not allow this,” he added.
Grocery stores charging more money for the plastic bag would have to declare the revenue generated and give it to the government, he said.