evidence: According to the statistics released by the Welsh government in 2012, there was a drastic reduction in the use of plastic bags from 71 to 96% between 2011 and 2014 since a levy of 5 pence has been introduced (Welsh Government 2014). In Santa Barbara, Canada, following the imposition of a 10 cent fee on plastic bags, total consumption fell woefully by 89.3% (City of Santa Barbara 2016). A survey conducted in Portugal reported that after the imposition of a tax on plastic bags, there was a drastic reduction from the number of plastic bags consumed from 2.25 to 0.59 per person per shopping trip (Martinho et al. 2017). In Taiwan, the Environmental Protection Administration has placed bans on the use of plastic shopping bags and disposable tableware. This policy has been found effective in reducing the number of plastic bags used from 58.34 to 86% within 3 years of the ban, 2002–2005 (Environmental Protection Administration Executive Yuan 2013). On the contrary, the enactment of plastic-use banning scheme has not been successful in South Africa and some other countries because the levy charged was too small and also due to insufficient monitoring system on the ground (Dikgang et al. 2012).