As of January 2008, free plastic bags have been banned from retail and grocery stores in China. Customers are given the option of purchasing plastic bags for their own use while shopping, but bags will no longer be free. Although customers will now have to pay for plastic bags, the price is not set to be profitable, but only to serve as a reminder that if you don’t reuse, you will repay. The reason for the new law is to encourage the re-usage of old plastic bags and help gear China toward becoming a more environmental-friendly country.
When things are giving out freely with no cost, people tend to disregard reusing it. Not only does this become an unnecessary waste issue, but a dangerous environmental problem as well. This is especially true with plastic bags, according to the article in China Daily, which take over 100 years to decompose, and if incinerated, becomes a global warming factor. Ideally, considering the population size of China, every little bit will add up. If one person reuses just 1 plastic bag in 1 day, you would have saved over 14 million bags.
But who is to say that, in the future reality, every plastic bag used in the market will be charged for? And also, does this ruling apply to “all” markets? Which ones?
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