Thin plastic bags banned from May 2003

The government has introduced a ban on the production or importation of thin plastic bags from May 2003. Bags thinner than 30 microns are banned outright and there may be no advertising or printing of any kind on plastic bags thinner than 80 microns as the ink-to-plastic ratio would make recycling unviable. The average thickness of supermarket bags is between 15 and 17 microns.