Bag the Plastic - Go Tote

Everyone's doing it, why can't we?
Some are taxes, some are bans, some are complex combo measures that address the issue as needed by the country or the town and its businesses. Whatever form the reduction takes, the ocean breathes a sigh of relief. Many more sighs to go, good news is:

The BIG ONE just joined! (The Biggest, can you guess?)
And on its heels comes the land down under.
Ireland imposed a smart 15 cent tax on bag, reducing plastic bag use by 90%.
In 2002 South Africa banned the ultra-thin plastic bags. The aim being that the thicker bags would be too expensive for retailers to give away freely. Bags are sold at 3 cents, plastic bag use has hence been cut by 50%.
In Paris, a plastic ban has just gone into effect, and a nationwide ban is slated for 01/2010.
Most German supermarkets voluntarily ask for b/w 5 and 25 cents per bag, they don't even need to be regulated into it, they just get it.
Read about more countries that have curbed their plastic bag usage through regulations or taxations or education or more likely a combination of all three. This listing includes histories, i.e. when a new law went into effect and what's the story today, e.g. Switzerland 2003 -> Switzerland 2007.