date:Apr 24, 2014
The European Parliament has backed plans to slash the use of plastic shopping bags which, carelessly thrown away, end up as unsightly litter and pollute the environment.
Environmentalists estimate that each citizens uses an average of nearly 200 plastic bags a year and want that cut by at least 80% by 2019.
The initial target is a cut of 50% by 2017 compared with 2010 levels when some eight billion such bags ended up as rubbish.
The EU directive leaves it up to individual member states wheth