there are environmental concerns regarding use and disposal of plastic shopping and trash bags. efforts are being taken to control and reduce their use in some european union countries, including ireland and the netherlands. in some cases the cheap bags are taxed so the customer must pay a fee where they may not have done previously. sometimes heavy duty reusable plastic and fabric bags are sold, typically costing €0.50 to €1, and these may replace disposable bags entirely. sometimes free replacements are offered when the bag wears out. the uk has charged 5p per plastic carrier bag in larger shops since 2015. this trend has spread to some cities in the united states. recently many countries have banned the use of plastic bags. paper bags emerge as a great replacement for plastic bags; however paper bags tend to be expensive compared to plastic bags.