By Gokhan Ergocun</p> <p>ISTANBUL (AA) – Turkish retailers are set to begin charging for environmentally-damaging plastic bags with a view to reducing non-recyclable waste.</p> <p>Starting Tuesday, all retailers — including those selling their wares online — will begin selling plastic bags for 0.25 Turkish liras ($0.05) each, of which 0.15 Turkish liras will be earmarked for environmental projects.</p> <p>In Turkey, between 30 billion and 35 billion plastic bags are used annually, representing some 440 plastic bags per person per year, according to the Environment and Urbanization Ministry.</p> <p>Several countries — including the U.K., Germany, Tanzania and Botswana — have already adopted similar policies.</p> <p>Some countries have also banned the use of certain types of single-use plastic items, such as cutlery, bags and bottles.</p> <p>Plastic bags can take up to 1,000 years to biodegrade, according to the Mind Your Waste Foundation.</p> <p>The foundation has said that as many as five trillion plastic bags are produced every year worldwide, only 1 percent of which are recycled.</p> <p>Turkish First Lady Emine Erdogan is currently leading Turkey's zero-waste project, which aims to reduce the volume of non-recyclable waste.
