In Ireland we have a levy (I.e. addiontal tax) on plastic bags. It's been in place since 2002: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recycling_in_the_Republic_of_I...

From link: One noticeable success in Ireland's environmental track record was the introduction of a plastic bag levy in 2002, the first country in the world to do so. All consumers were required to pay 15c for a plastic bag; this led to an immediate decrease of over 90% in the amount of plastic bags in circulation. From 328 bags per inhabitant per year when the levy was introduced, usage fell to 21 bags per capita.

What do you mean by "worked well"? What scenario would have had you conclude that it did not work well?

Scotland has a similar system. It has also worked well; I'd conclude it had not worked well if there were ongoing serious complaints, or the litter problem of carrier bags continued.

Since July 1st, France has banned them too. They were already forbidden is supermarkets anyways. Note that the biodegradable corn-based plastic bags are still allowed.

Interestingly, the "biodegradable" bags seem kind of scam-ish. Apparently the PLA (corn based) ones only break down in a "commercial" composting environment. According to this article, that means 10 days at some specific temperature (the article says "70 degrees" but no more).

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/corn-plastic-to...

Only cottoned onto this personally, after noticing the "compostable" bags I'd been using to hold vegetable scraps... weren't compositing in the home compost bin even many months later (nearly a year now). :/

The Netherlands has this as well since this year. Putting a price on plastic bags actually seems to change people's behaviour — for the good. The law doesn't even stipulate a minimum price; as long as plastic bags aren't free, people will bother to bring their own.

See, this actually worked at your place. If plastic bags will be banned people will make a point to bring bags with them, which they don't do now.