Business Spectator on China and the ban on ultra-thin plastic bags.
China will become the latest country to outlaw ultra-thin plastic bags, when a ban takes effect on Sunday, in a bid to cut pollution and save resources.
The ban, announced by the State Council in January, halts the production of bags that are thinner than 0.025 mm and forbids their use in supermarkets and shops.
It also requires retailers to charge customers for thicker plastic bags not covered by
the ban.
Environmentalists say plastic bags can take up to 1,000 years to disintegrate and pose threats to marine life, birds and other animals.
…a list of some of the countries that already restrict plastic shopping bags or plan to do so:
AFRICA – Rwanda and Eritrea banned the bags outright, as has Somaliland, an autonomous region of Somalia. South Africa, Uganda and Kenya have minimum thickness rules, and Ethiopia, Ghana, Lesotho and Tanzania are considering similar measures.
AUSTRALIA – Coles Bay in Tasmania became “Australia’s First Plastic Bag-Free Town” in April 2003. Dozens of others followed suit. In January 2008, the environment minister called for supermarkets to phase out use of the bags nationwide by the end of the year.
CHINA – The ban on ultra-thin bags that goes into force on June 1 will cut pollution and save valuable oil resources, the State Council, or cabinet, says. In May 2007 Hong Kong proposed a 50 cent “polluter pays” levy on plastic shopping bags.
INDIA – The western state of Maharashtra banned the manufacture, sale and use of plastic bags in August 2005, after claims that they choked drains during monsoon rains. Other states banned ultra-thin bags to cut pollution and deaths of cattle, sacred to Hindus, which eat them.
Check out the rest of the list.
Plastic bags are a big issue, no doubt. With some estimates of a consumption rate of 1 million per minute around the world (or 500 billion annually), we need a solution that works.
Is banning plastic bags the best way to solve this issue? Is there an alternate model? Is there a market based solution to this? If so, how can it work? Are there any success stories?
