Shoppers bring donkey into store to cut use of plastic

Manama: As Turks are slowly attempting to ease themselves into the new habit of shopping without single-use plastic bags, a Turkish couple decided that the best alternative was to bring in their own donkey into the shop.

The man and woman simply rode a donkey with its two baskets on either side into a central market in the Central Anatolian province of Niğdem, local daily Hürriyet reported.

They calmly placed the items they bought into the basket and following their grocery shopping, they left the market.

On January 1, grocery stores in Turkey no longer offered free plastic bags and under a decision by the government, shops must charge customers 0.25 Turkish liras ($0.05) for each bag, of which 0.15 Turkish liras will be earmarked for environmental projects.

Any store that is caught giving the environmentally-damaging plastic bags to customers free of charge is fined 10 Turkish Liras per each square metre of their property.