Last year the town of Modbury in Devon became Britain's first plastic bag free town. Much of the information in this section is drawn from their great website.

When you throw a plastic bag away it doesn't go anywhere. Left alone it will probably still be around by the time you're dead.

Plastics do not biodegrade, they photo degrade, breaking down into smaller and smaller toxic bits contaminating soil, waterways, oceans and entering the food chain when ingested by animals.

Scientists estimate each plastic item could last in the environment anywhere between 400 to 1000 years.

In 2001 a piece of plastic found in an albatross stomach bore a serial number that was traced to a World War II seaplane shot down in 1944.

The UK produces 2.8 million tonnes of plastic waste in the UK each year, this figure is rising by 2% each year.

An estimated 17 billion plastic bags are given away annually by United Kingdom supermarkets alone.

On average we only recycle 1 plastic bag in every 200 we use.

In the marine environment plastic bag litter is lethal, killing at least 100,000 birds, whales, dolphins, seals, sea lions and turtles every year.

Nearly 90% of floating marine litter is plastic. Since the dawn of the plastic era it is estimated that 5% of all the world's post production plastic has entered the world's oceans. That is just over 100 million tons of plastic.

A Minke Whale washed up dead on the Normandy coast had a plastic bag from a British high street shop in its stomach.

During a survey of floating marine debris conducted in the South East Pacific plastic bags far outnumbered other items at 47.6% of all items.

The following nations have realised that something needs to be done. They discourage the use of plastic bags through levies or asking customers to pay for them. We'd like to add the UK to that list, even if it is just a small part of East London.

Key: OB= Outright ban.
Bangladesh, (OB)
Ireland, (Levy)
Taiwan,
France, (OB 2010)
West Bengal, (OB)
Tanzania, (OB)
Switzerland
Rwanda (OB)
Pakiistan, (OB)
Denmark
Germany
South Africa, (OB)
Italy, (OB 2010)
Australia, (OB in supermarkets 2008)
India, (OB in area's including Mumbai)
Somalia, (OB)
Botswana, (OB)
Philippines, (OB, coming soon)
Uganda, (OB)
Kenya, (OB)
Japan
Turkey
Zanzibar, (OB)
Eritrea, (OB)
Ethiopia, (OB)
Papua New Guinea, (OB)
Samoa, (OB)
Belgium, (Levy)
South Korea
Singapore
Sweden
Bhutan, (OB)
Malta
China