CHINA:In a major advance in combating the country's pollution problem, from June 1st this year, China will ban the production of ultra-thin plastic bags and supermarkets and shops will be forbidden from handing out free plastic carrier bags, the all-powerful State Council said this week.
China uses three billion plastic bags a day, which cause widespread white litter and are a considerable eyesore in some of the country's most beautiful areas.
Once, standing on an ancient bridge crossing a crystal-clear stream in a valley in Sichuan province where there were no roads and no electricity, a white plastic shopping bag came floating down to where I stood and lodged on a rock; it was one of the most depressing scenes I've witnessed in more than four years in China.
Despite the environmental angle, the ban is being introduced for soundly pragmatic reasons. With crude oil prices in or around $100 a barrel, the cheap plastic bag is rapidly turning into an expensive commodity.
"Our country consumes huge amounts of plastic bags every year. While providing convenience to consumers, they have also caused serious pollution, and waste of energy and resources, because of excessive use and inadequate recycling," the State Council, which is China's cabinet, said on its website.
"The ultra-thin bags are the main source of 'white' pollution as they can easily get broken and end up as litter . . . we should encourage people to return to carrying cloth bags, using baskets for their vegetables," ran the notice.
Trying to get people not to give you a plastic bag in China is a real problem. Supermarkets packers insist on putting goods into plastic bags before putting them into a cloth shopping bag.
While many people will be happy with new efforts to improve China's poor environment, the plastic bag is a much-valued commodity in China, where mass consumption is relatively new.
Shopkeepers are worried that getting rid of plastic bags will make shoppers unwilling to buy things. A pilot scheme in Shenzhen last year, where free plastic shopping bags were banned, was not a success.
Dong Jinshi, chairman of the China Plastics Processing Industry Association's waste plastics recycling committee, said that the ban would cut the use of plastic shopping bags by more than 60 per cent and would raise the recycling rate.