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Culture

Portugal: Plagued by Plastic

April 9, 2014

The Portuguese have a dubious claim to fame - their country is known as the "plastic bag" capital of Europe. Every minute, thousands of plastic bags are toted out of shopping centers.

https://p.dw.com/p/1Bek7

Portugal adopted western European consumption habits and the throw-away mentality when it joined the European Union. Now every Portuguese uses around 500 plastic tote bags a year, adding their contribution to the EU total of eight billion. That was reason enough for a video maker to poke fun at this aspect of Portuguese lifestyle.