A ban on plastic grocery bags?

A few years ago, our government had the bright idea (for once) to put a Tax on plastic bags after one of our ministers saw it been done in another European country he visited.

The result was we would now have to pay 15c (US 20c) for each plastic grocery bag sold. Major supermarkets sell heavy duty plastic bags (capable of carrying 2 6-Packs of Beer) which are very sturdy (not one of mine has ever broke) for 30c but why fork out for those? Well...

The government sucked close to €1m in total out of an unprepared public in just a few weeks of the new Tax for every man, woman and child buying a plastic bag...

In a few months, people began carrying their own plastic bags with them as they already had invested 15c for each bag, why not re-use it when shopping again? This eliminated the possibility of the first days plastic bag becoming waste immediately...

People then realised that one could only use the 15c bags less then a dozen times before it became impractical due to holes, tearing etc. So people then purchased the 30c bags netting 15c for the government and 15c for the Supermarket on each of these heavy-duty bags...

In my case, I've discarded a 30c bag that I use 1-2 times a week for small minor indentals, ONCE in the past YEAR (as the handle gave way). I have 5 other similar bags that I use for major weekly shopping that are subjected to more harsh wear, these are replaced on average every 6-8 months.

Result: Major windfall for the government in the early stage and continues to generate a little revenue every day now. Reduction in the waste of plastic grocery bags by an estimated 85%.

Jam it back in, in the dark.