Saturday, The San Diego Union Tribune ran an interesting article regarding Irelands use (or lack of use) of Plastic shopping bags. Among the more interesting tidbits in the article are:

We have used 43 billion bags as of last Friday

Ireland passed a tax of $.33 a bag in 2002, and within weeks the use of plastic bags dropped by 94%

Read the rest in the article here

Here in the United States the Retailers are beginning to take on the task of eliminating disposable bags. Whole Foods Market, Ikea, Costco all have stopped offering disposable bags. It is now our turn as consumers to take the lead, and stop using them, and frequent those businesses that are encouraging use of reusable bags.

Here is another link to a short list of interesting facts about plastic bags.   reusable bags