In only three months, Australia has cut its plastic bag usage by 80 percent

Three months after two of the largest supermarket chains banned plastic grocery bags, an estimated 1.5 billion bags have been prevented from polluting the environment. Overall, the bans introduced by two of Australia’s largest supermarket chains — Woolworths and Coles — announced the ban of single-use plastics in their stores last summer resulted in an 80 percent reduction in the country’s overall use of the single-use item, according to the country’s National Retail Association.

Throughout the world, at least 32 countries — 18 in Africa — have plastic bag bans in place. In June, Chile became the first country in the Americas to ban plastic bags.