Serbia to ban use of non-biodegradable plastic bags

Serbia will ban the use of thin plastic bags and introduce mandatory charging for biodegradable ones, the Ministry of Environmental Protection has announced.

Politika daily writes on Thursday that the ministry said Serbia, although not a member of the EU, would apply all measures from the recently adopted "plastics directive."

According to this EU directive, the maximum annual consumption of bags per person is limited to 90, until the end of 2019.

"We are in constant communication with large retail chains, as well as with the non-governmental sector, in order to influence the development of environmental awareness of citizens on this issue," said the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

The Delhaize Serbia chain this week started charging for plastic bags in one of its retail formats - the Shop & Go stores.

According to unofficial estimates made by the retail sector, about 20 million euros is spent each year on the purchase of plastic bags; on average, every citizen uses seven bags a day, while two billion are discarded annually.