Istanbul's Kartal Municipality banned the use of plastic bags within the district to increase the awareness on environment and recycling, while limiting their negative effects to nature.

The decision was announced on the municipality website on Monday, while units from the municipality's Directorate of Environment Protection and Control started visiting businesses and shops to deliver notices on the decision and inform citizens on the issue.

Only the use of bio-degradable plastic bags will be allowed in the district, while the decision aims to urge businesses and consumers to use alternative products like net, cloth or paper bags.

The statement on municipality website said that according to data provided by Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, 10 percent of 10,000 tons of daily waste in Istanbul are plastic bags. Only one percent of this waste is being recycled while the rest is being dispatched to landfills.

The statement underlined that around four to five trillion plastic bags are produced annually and one million plastic bags are thrown into waste in each minute, which take 100 to 10,000 years to decompose and pollute water resources and food chain throughout this process.