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 By Daleena Samara
Shanghai reporting by Beth Ronsick
China says ‘no’ to plastic bags
Come June, the steady flow of some three billion ultra thin shopping bags into landfills across China will slow down. This dramatic change is the result of new laws enacted to ban the practice of giving free plastic shopping bags to shoppers at supermarkets and stores in the country.
Instead, shoppers in China have been asked to bring their own cloth bags or shopping baskets when shopping. The new law, which will come into effect on 1 June, also bans production of these bags.
(reprinted from Positive News HK)
The ban only affects bags under 0.025 mm thick. Thicker plastic bags, however, have dodged the axe and will be on sale. Customers who forget to bring their own bags can buy the thicker bags; shops have been instructed to clearly price-mark them and not absorb the cost into the prices of other items.
Organizations caught handing out free plastic bags to shoppers will be fined and face possible forfeiture of goods and profits. Tax measures will also be considered to discourage plastic bag production and sales.
The bags will also be banished from public transportation including buses, trains, planes, and from public places such as airports and scenic locations.
Waste collectors were urged to improve recycling efforts to reduce the amount of bags burned or buried.
It is estimated that three billion of these ultra thin plastic bags are used daily, and most of them discarded after they are used just once. Further, the ban is expected to reduce the amount of crude oil used for plastic packaging, reportedly 5 million tons (35 million barrels) annually according to official figures.
Facing increasing levels of pollution caused by rapid economic growth, the government has been looking for ways to protect the environment. “Our country consumes a large amount of plastic bags. While convenient for consumers, the bags also lead to a severe waste of resources and environmental pollution because of their excessive use and low rate of recycling,” said a statement on the government website.
“The ultra-thin bags are the main source of ‘white’ pollution as they can easily get broken and end up as litter,” the statement added. The term ‘white pollution’ was born from the unsightly presence of thin white bags littering drains, flapping on branches of trees, and floating in the air.
It’s not the first time a ban on plastic bags has been applied in China. Last year, the southern city of Shenzhen unveiled draft regulations of a similar ban. The new law will apply nationwide and although country-wide application by China’s 1.3 billion population – a fifth of the world’s population -- may seem a daunting challenge, its enforcement would certainly be a blessing to a planet suffocating under the weight of plastic waste.
According to news reports, signs are afoot of an attitude change towards plastic shopping bags in the country. According to news reports, some shoppers in Beijing are already favouring cloth bags to plastic bags for shopping, thanks to supermarket campaigns. Different regions have also been embracing no-plastic bag days. Some Beijing supermarkets are already using bio-degradable bags.
Environmentalists have welcomed the move. According to the China Environment Forum at the Woodrow Wilson Centre in Washington, USA, China’s waste is at ‘crisis level’ and her landfills will be brimming in 13 years. In news reports, Greenpeace described it as a perfect case to combine public participation and government policy guidance.
 In Hong Kong, Friends of the Earth said: “It's good to hear that the Chinese government has implemented a ban on thin plastic shopping bags, and is going to introduce a plastic bag levy. However, as there are no details on implementation of the ban, it’s hard to give detailed comments. Our concern is how such a policy will be implemented in such a big country.”
In Shanghai, the mood towards the ban is positive. Fong Xiao Juen, a 49 year old housekeeper, felt it was a good move; “The Chinese don’t really understand what we can do to help. We know pollution is a problem. It’s a step to do something.”
“We already have cloth bags and baskets at home; everybody has those. In China before, we never had these new things [plastic bags], we carried our own bags, so our habits are still really close to doing without.”
Fong Yao Tsao Male, an 18 year old highschool student, said: “It’s a good idea. Paper is better anyway. It’s very clean because it comes from wood.”
“The change won’t amount to anything in my life. When I go shopping, I’ll use a cloth bag or paper bag or a push cart instead.”
Liu Cheng, a 45 year old Public Relations professional had this view:
“It’s hard to change people’s behavior, but it’s a positive step. The biggest problem is to convince supermarkets how to implement it. They need to do two things to help implement it. They need to do massive surveillance. The reason China has never had a good environmental record is that this country has not invested enough in environmental surveillance.
“They also need both the stick and the carrot. They need to give some carrots, like they need to give tax rebates or other incentives to encourage those who implement it…they need to invest in mass education to compensate…or to give cloth bags. There is a German supermarket store that always did that anyway…they charge for bags.”
Liu says he will use a cotton bag: “I just need to take another five minutes. It’s not a big deal to go home and pick up a bag. I think it won’t be a big problem in Shanghai. Every neighborhood has many markets, so there is always a market 500 m from home, what’s the trouble with going home to pick up a bag?”
“The most common use is that the bag gets used as a garbage bag, and that is the worst case scenario. We have to convince people not to reuse bags for garbage bags. It’s the worst habit. If I don’t have a plastic bag, I still need to find an environmentally friendly garbage bag… You have to substitute… all people use shopping bags as garbage bags. I think they need to have a better strategy. We also need to find alternatives for environmentally friendly garbage bags that can decompose…the bags sold need to be more environmental.”
“At least I can do this much. I can do my part of it.”
“It’s not yet time to celebrate. We have a long way to go. We need stakeholders and NGO’s included in systems thinking… We need the will, but we also need a good plan, or one solution just creates a new problem.”
Hong Kong, which according to government statistics, uses up to 23 million plastic bags a day or 3 bags per person per day, has proposed a law to impose a 50 cent levy on every plastic bag at particular points of sales. The first phase of the scheme will cover retailers such as supermarkets, convenience stores and personal health and beauty stores. Legislation is expected to be enforced later this year. Commenting on the ban in China, a spokesperson for the Hong Kong Environmental Protection Department said: “Our landfill survey suggests that we are disposing of more than three plastic shopping bags per person per day, which is much higher than the corresponding figures overseas and apparently beyond our practical need. Hence, the objective of our proposed environmental levy on plastic shopping bags is to reduce the indiscriminate use of plastic shopping bags through a direct economic disincentive.”
Plastic bags made an appearance in China’s shopping circuits about 15 years ago. Rapid economic development and the appearance of modern chain stores in recent years have led to the practice of handing out free shopping bags to shoppers at checkout points, a practice exacerbated by growing Western style consumerism.
The plastic bag ban is a significant step towards cleaning up the environmental drawbacks of these developments. However, plastic bags are only a small step of a gargantuan plastic pollution problem: China’s landfills are also choking with packaging. Further, the export of plastic waste to China from the United Kingdom for recycling is also suffocating parts of southern China.
Though it is too early to tell how the public will accommodate the new law, there will definitely be more breathing space in her soil in times to come. The government step marks a big win for the environment that will benefit the country, it people, its future generations and the world.
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November 20 - 21
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