--- description: New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced the country's plan to phase out single-use plastic bags over the next year title: New Zealand to Ban Single-Use Plastic Bags image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt802c56514690542f/69893773656a3f474bbd52e2/gettyimages-971756356.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [New Zealand](/tag/new-zealand/) ## New Zealand Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # New Zealand Announces Plan to Ban Single-Use Plastic Bags by [Casey Quackenbush](/author/casey-quackenbush/) ## Casey Quackenbush Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 10, 2018 5:44 AM CUT  Plastic bags in use at New World supermarket in New Lynn on June 12, 2018 in Auckland, New Zealand. Plastic bags in use at New World supermarket in New Lynn on June 12, 2018 in Auckland, New Zealand.Fiona Goodall—Getty Images by [Casey Quackenbush](/author/casey-quackenbush/) ## Casey Quackenbush Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 10, 2018 5:44 AM CUT New Zealand has become the latest country to ban single-use plastic bags in an effort to tackle plastic pollution. On Friday, New Zealand [Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern](http://time.com/5028891/jacinda-ardern-worlds-youngest-female-leader-new-zealand/ "undefined") announced plans to phase out single-use plastic bags over the next year in order to “look after our environment and safeguard New Zealand’s clean, green reputation,” the _New Zealand_ _Herald_ reports. “Every year in New Zealand we use hundreds of millions of single-use plastic bags — a mountain of bags, many of which end up polluting our precious coastal and marine environments and cause serious harm to all kinds of marine life,” Ardern said. “Just like climate change, we’re taking meaningful steps to reduce plastics pollution so we don’t pass this problem to future generations.” New Zealand retailers will have six months to stop providing the single-use bags, or [face fines](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/10/jacinda-ardern-says-new-zealand-will-ban-plastic-bags "undefined") of up to NZ $100,000 ($66,000), the _Guardian_ reports. Citing a petition signed by 65,000 people, Ardern said eliminating plastic pollution was in line with public opinion. “It’s also the biggest single subject schoolchildren write to me about,” she said. **Read More:** [_See How Many LEGO Skyscrapers You Could Build With a Year’s Worth of Ocean Plastic Waste_](http://time.com/5244682/earth-day-plastic-lego-skyscrapers/ "undefined") New Zealand is one of the highest producers of urban waste per capita in the developed world, [according](https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2018/01/new-zealand-among-most-wasteful-countries-in-developed-world-world-bank.html "undefined") to figures from the World Bank. Every year, [8 million metric tons](http://www.sciencemag.org/lookup/doi/10.1126/science.1260352 "undefined") of plastic end up in the oceans, according to a 2015 study, and that figure could increase by ten-fold over the next 10 years if action is not taken. Some studies [predict](http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF%5FThe%5FNew%5FPlastics%5FEconomy.pdf "undefined") that by 2050, the world’s oceans will be filled with [more plastic mass than fish mass](http://time.com/4186250/ocean-plastic-fish/ "undefined"). [According](https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/25496/singleUsePlastic%5Fsustainability.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y "undefined") to the U.N., New Zealand joins more than 60 countries that have introduced bans and levies on single-use plastics, including [India](http://time.com/5302732/india-ban-single-use-plastic/ "undefined") and the [United Kingdom](http://time.com/5246692/uk-plastic-straws-ban/ "undefined"). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5363632/new-zealand-bans-single-use-plastic/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5363632/new-zealand-bans-single-use-plastic/"},"headline":"New Zealand Announces Plan to Ban Single-Use Plastic Bags","datePublished":"2018-08-10T05:44:02.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T21:07:07.114Z","description":"Retailers will have six months to stop providing plastic bags or face fines","url":"https://time.com/5363632/new-zealand-bans-single-use-plastic/","keywords":["New Zealand","onetime","overnight"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt802c56514690542f/69893773656a3f474bbd52e2/gettyimages-971756356.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Casey Quackenbush","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/casey-quackenbush/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt802c56514690542f/69893773656a3f474bbd52e2/gettyimages-971756356.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"NZ Government Consider Banning Single-Use Plastic Bags","caption":"NZ Government Consider Banning Single-Use Plastic Bags","creditText":"Fiona Goodall—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/new-zealand/","name":"New Zealand"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5363632/new-zealand-bans-single-use-plastic/","name":"New Zealand Announces Plan to Ban Single-Use Plastic Bags"}}]}] ```