Around the World
Internationally, legislation to discourage plastic bag use has been passed in parts of South Africa, Ireland, and Taiwan, where authorities either tax shoppers who use them or impose fees on companies that distribute them. Bangladesh already bans them, as do at least 30 remote Alaskan villages.
Last year, San Francisco became the first U.S. city to ban petroleum-based plastic bags in large grocery stores.
In France, supermarket chains have begun shying away from giving away plastic bags, and German stores must pay a recycling fee if they wish to offer them.
Ireland's surcharge on bags was imposed in 2003 and has been credited with sharply reducing demand.
Chinese Sellers
The elderly proprietor of a combined clothing shop and grocery shop, who gave only his surname, Wang, said the Chinese measure could reduce sales initially but would be beneficial in the long run.
"It's a bother, but these bags really do create a lot of pollution, so it should be a good thing," said Wang. He said the measure would make little difference to his costs since he spends just 10 yuan ($1.35) a month on bags.
Xu, the college student, said the move showed China was serious about joining global efforts to stem environmental deterioration.
"I think this really shows that China is being a responsible country," said the 21-year-old.
Employees at larger supermarkets and convenience stores said they were unclear on the measure and did not know what their employers' response would be.
A Huge Amount of Plastic Bags
The regulation comes as Beijing steps up efforts to fight pollution that has accompanied China's breakneck economic growth. Factories and plants that churn out low-cost products for the world's consumers have severely fouled the country's air and water.
The order continues a years-old campaign against plastic waste, or "white pollution," that initially targeted the plastic foam lunch boxes whose shells were once ubiquitous in China.
Shopkeepers started handing out cheap, flimsy plastic bags to customers about 15 years ago, roughly the same time that China shifted from being a net oil exporter to being a net importer. In recent years, large Western or Japanese-style supermarkets have begun to supplant traditional markets, eliminating the need for shoppers to bring their own bags.
"Our country consumes a huge amount of plastic shopping bags each year," the State Council said in a statement.
"While plastic shopping bags provide convenience to consumers, this has caused a serious waste of energy and resources and environmental pollution because of excessive usage, inadequate recycling and other reasons," the statement said.
Plastic shopping bags are given out with even the smallest items, although the statement gave no estimates as to the specific number of bags consumed in China or the potential savings in terms of the petroleum used to produce them.
Jennifer Turner, director of the China Environment Forum at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, said China's solid waste is at "a crisis level."
"Their landfills are reaching capacity and will be full in 13 years," she said, adding that a ban like this could be a significant way to educate the public about China's environmental issues.
A Hundred Billion Bags—in the U.S. Alone
In the United States, which has less than one-quarter of China's 1.3 billion people, the Sierra Club's Sierra magazine estimates almost a hundred billion plastic bags are thrown out each year.
The Sierra Club estimated that if every one of New York City's eight million people used one less grocery bag per year, it would reduce waste by about 218,000 pounds.
In New York on Wednesday, the City Council approved a bill requiring large stores to provide bins for recycling plastic bags. The stores must also use bags that read: "Please return this bag to a participating store for recycling." Mayor Michael Bloomberg supports the measure and is expected to sign it.
China's move won praise from environmental organizations including Greenpeace, which issued a statement welcoming the ban.
"The State Council's announcement to ban free plastic bags is a perfect case to combine two of the major forces in environment protection: public participation and government policy guidance," Greenpeace said.
Christopher Flavin, president of Worldwatch Institute, an independent research organization in Washington, said "China is ahead of the U.S. with this policy."
"They have had problems enforcing programs in the past, but this is easy to enforce because it has to be implemented on the retail level," Flavin said. "It won't be 100 percent on the first day, but in general, if you come back a year from now you will find this will be enforced and in place."
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Associated Press Writer Carley Petesch in New York contributed to this report.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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