While the rest of the country still needs to catch up, regional parties in the Westfjords hope to eliminate plastic bags in the area altogether.
Fjórðungssamband Vestfirðinga has announced the launching of the “Plastic Bag-Free Westfjörds” project, being conducted in conjunction with local authorities. This project aims to deliver multiple-use cloth shopping bags to every single home in the region.
Some 1,300 bags have already been distributed, with about the same number left to go. The hope is that the ubiquitousness of cloth bags will fully eliminate the use of plastic bags by 2017.
As reported, Icelanders go through some 20 million plastic bags every year, amounting to each Icelander throwing out 62.5 plastic bags annually.
Last year, Icelandic authorities agreed to follow a European Union directive to reduce plastic bag consumption by 80%.
Related:
Plastic, Not So Fantastic: Marine plastic pollution and what it means for Iceland
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