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China tries to curb addiction to plastic bags

AFP, Beijing
China joined a small group of nations yesterday in restricting the use of plastic bags, but there are doubts the rule will be effective in a country that consumes one trillion ofthemayear.
Supermarkets and other shops began charging for plastic bags as a government crackdown on the environmentally damaging items creaked into action.
The production, sale and use of ultra-thin plastic shopping bags, moreover, was banned completely as part of efforts to rid the country of the "white pollution that clogs its waterways, farms and fields.
Retailers who continue to provide free plastic shopping bags face finesfrom5,000-10,000yuan (about 700-1,400 dollars), according to the State Administration for Industry and Commerce.
Only a few other countries, ranging from Ireland to Bangladesh, have taken such tough measures.
But environmental organisations questioned whether the new rules could be effectively implemented.
"The question remains about the smaller shops, particularly when you go out of the bigger cities to smaller towns — are they going to have the same law enforcement?” asked Sze Pang Cheung, communications director for Greenpeace China.
"China has had a poor record of enforcing its environmental law in the past -- laws about pollution, the environmental impact assessment in factories. Many of the pieces of legislation are well drafted, but the problem is enforcement."
Some shoppers admitted they might still be tempted to buy plastic bags from supermarkets, which could cost as little as 0.1 yuan each.
"If I go to the supermarket, 1 might still choose to buy the plastic
bags because it is more convenient," WangYongjiang, 26, told AFP in front of a supermarket in central Beijing.
China, like many other countries, is addicted to the use of plastic bags.
A trip down to the supermarket only serves to confirm that. Every non-food item, be it a sponge or toothbrush, is wrapped into a small plastic bag before being added into a bigger bag full of groceries.
Each day, the country’ consumes an estimated three billion plastic bags, some of which take decades to decompose.
The official Xinhua news agency reported that consumers used more than one billion plastic bags a day at supermarkets, quoting an expert at the textile industry association in the eastern province of Shandong.
Another two billion were consumed daily in other places.
Most Chinese people are in favour of the ban on free plastic bags, saying it is a good move towards protecting the environment in a country’ known for its huge pollution problems.
A survey’ conducted by CIIC-COMR, an online market research company, on nearly 5,200 people from around the country revealed that 77.5 percent of respondents supported the move.
I lowever, a survey conducted by the Social Survey Institute of China found that 69.2 percent believed it would hav’e only limited effect as many consumers will continue to pay for plastic bags, Xinhua reported on Sunday.
Sze said that despite the doubts, it was encouraging that China was taking progressive steps that few oilier countries have embraced.
"But plastic bags are not the worst environmental problems in China, far from il. Air quality, for example, is much worse," she cautioned.