BUDAPEST, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- The Hungarian government announced on Friday a total ban on plastic bags from 2021 in order to help preserve the planet.

"From 2021, the plastic bags will totally be forbidden in Hungary," Martina Makai, Deputy State Secretary for green economy, climate policy and key public services of the Ministry for Innovation and Technology declared.

"The measure is essential to keep the Earth at least in the same state as we have received it," she added at a conference themed "The Universal Sea - Pure or Plastic - sustainability and art."

Makai explained that Hungary introduced heavy taxation in the form of a so-called product fee on plastic bags in 2012, much earlier than other European Union member states, in order to reduce the use of plastic bags, which take very long time to decompose and seriously harm the environment.

"In six years, we have reduced the use of plastic bags from 160-170 pieces per capita to only 80," she underlined.