Pacific

Papua New Guinea government outlaws plastic shopping bags

10:42 am on 5 January 2005

The government in Papua New Guinea has ordered a ban on plastic shopping bags in a bid to curb a major littering problem across the country.

The importation and sale of plastic shopping bags into PNG has been prohibited from the beginning of the year and the manufacture and sale of them in the country will be banned from June.

Shoppers are being encouraged to use traditional woven string bags, or "bilums", instead.