The file you provided contains no text data. Please upload a text-based document or provide text directly in your inputs.

– On average, we buy 135 plastic bags per person in Norway per year. That amounts to over 600,000 million plastic bags annually. We have seen a decrease in recent years, but we need to reduce even further. On average, we should not purchase more than 40 plastic bags per year in 2025. To achieve this, we need a broad set of measures, which is why we are now seeking good ideas through a call for applications of NOK 5 million, says Cecilie Lind, CEO of the Norwegian Retailers' Environment Fund.

The target of 40 plastic bags per person comes from the EU, and all countries in the EU and EEA must work towards achieving it.

– Plastic bags are single-use plastic, and it's a very good place to start when we want to reduce our plastic consumption. If we reduce usage to 40 plastic carrier bags per inhabitant, we will save over 5,000 tons of plastic annually, says Lind.

But is it such a big environmental problem then?

In Norway, 80 percent of plastic carrier bags are used as bin liners after shopping. Therefore, many people think the plastic bag is environmentally friendly.

– Many want to be environmentally friendly and reuse plastic carrier bags in their waste bins. But a plastic carrier bag is designed for carrying. Therefore, it consists of far more plastic than needed for handling waste. This is why we encourage using reusable shopping bags in the store and instead purchasing bin liners on a roll for the waste bin. It is both more environmentally friendly and cheaper, says Lind.

This is what we're looking for

The application deadline is ongoing, so just send in applications until the pot is empty. The fund is looking for projects that increase the use of reusable shopping bags and bin liners on a roll instead of plastic bags, reward systems for consumers who opt out of plastic carrier bags, and new technology and solutions that reduce the use of plastic carrier bags in Norway.

– The common denominator is that the project must contribute to reducing plastic bag usage, and the more plastic bags that can be cut, the stronger the project stands in the competition. We hope for many good applications, says Lind.

Read more and apply here.

The application deadline is ongoing.