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Portugal: Plagued by Plastic

04:47

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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.

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.

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