In Sweden, from May 1, a new tax on plastic bags. It will concern both plastic bags with handles (the tax will be approximately 3 euro cents per bag) and light plastic bags for weighing vegetables and fruits (28 euro cents per bag). The objective of this measure is to reduce environmental pollution, primarily in water bodies, says Europuls. Officially, manufacturers of packages will pay taxes, but according to the estimates of the Swedish Trade Organization (Svensk Handel), because of this, packages in Sweden will rise in price for customers by almost 20% - up to 50-70 eurocents. Many public organizations consider this an extra measure. The separate waste collection culture in Sweden is quite developed, and almost no one throws non-decomposable bags past the plastic recycling bin, representatives of the Swedish Trade say. And the rise in price of packages will not lead to the desired results. In addition, critics of the law note that the new tax will be the same regardless of whether the packages are made from primary products or from processed raw materials.. The law in Sweden was adopted as part of the pan-European plan to reduce the use of plastic bags, which was adopted in 2015. According to him, by 2025 the use of packages should be reduced to 40 per year per person. At that time, an EU resident used an average of 200 packages a year, since then this amount has been reduced by almost half. In some countries, such as Germany, there are currently only 24 packages per inhabitant per year. In Sweden, an average of 76 packages per person. Now in the European Union it is officially forbidden to sell 10 types of disposable plastic products, including disposable tableware, hygienic sticks and sticks for balloons. But cellophane packages in the EU are not yet fully banned.