Thanks for the response. I'm living in a small town in Italy, and as you mentioned, even at the farmers market people bag things before you know what's happening. Lately I've had to swallow my pride a lot and empty out all the bags afterwards. Usually the shop-keepers think I'm crazy rather than conscientious...Also I was hugely disturbed to find that at the big grocery chains here it's REQUIRED to put each different type of produce in a separate plastic bag...otherwise the cashiers get angry with you and make you go and get one. You also have to wear plastic gloves (single use of course) in order to pick up produce. Ridiculous because who knows how many hands have already touched each piece of produce! My solution has been to reuse the same plastic bags, but it seems ridiculous....

Ok maybe this post belonged in the "rants" section. Thanks for the information Eva. 

I can´t say that I´ve seen a plastic bag ban in effect here; the shops seem to be handing them out as much as they used to. However, I did notice that one food stall at a market handed out biodegradable bags. Thank goodness, because my purchase was bagged and handed to me before I knew what was happening.  Most food products one buys at the cheese or deli meat counters come wrapped in paper, though some of that has plastic coating. And many more types of plastic are taken for recycling, that´s for certain.

There seems to be some incentive locally for certain projects. A neighboring town from where my friend lives is running a big composting campaign.

I don't know the answer to this yet, but I'm heading for Italy in 2 weeks and staying with a friend who lives there.  She's very environmentally conscious, so I'll check with her.  I know that recycling is required by law in Italy, which leads Europe in recycling of waste materials, so there's certainly a consciousness about this aspect.  And, last year, Italy became the first nation in Europe to ban plastic bags! http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2.....onwide-ban