The topic made more headlines than usual last week after a pilot whale died in southern Thailand, having ingested more than 80 plastic bags.
The new report focuses in detail on national-level regulation to ban or limit the use of plastic bags and styrofoam around the world.
This map shows the state of global regulation to limit plastic bag use. There are total or partial national-level bans in several African countries as well as France, India and Mongolia.
Other countries have introduced economic measures such as taxing plastic bags and that list includes Ireland and Portugal.