China's ban of ultrathin plastic bags and free-of-charge shopping bags is marching into its fifth month of enforcement, and well-established bag makers are finding themselves in a predicament between the well-meant ban and underground bag manufacturers.
The ban's aim is to phase out ultrathin plastic bags, commonly provided by farmers markets and street vendors, because they tend to end up as litter due to their low cost and lack of durability. The ban also went one step further and asked all retailers to charge for plastic shopping bags that meet thickness requirements. Officials also believe the ban will push out of business underground bag makers, the main source of ultrathin bags.Unfortunately, the results have gone astray of the ban's intentions. On one side, stores have been more than willing to gain extra revenue by charging for plastic bags, which has lead to a sharp decline in quality shopping bags. And on the other side, farmers markets and street vendors are ignoring the ban entirely and continue to use ultrathin, disposable plastic bags.At an industry conference in Beijing earlier this month, a dozen leading bag manufacturers that make quality shopping bags complained that they've seen company sales plunge 40 percent, while unlicensed, underground bag businesses are thriving. A report from the Chongqing Business News said officials pledged stricter enforcement of the ban next year. But few details of how that will be achieved remain untouched.Besides underground bag makers, producers and distributors of nonwoven bags -- marketed as eco-friendly -- have also stayed busy. But now authorities are telling consumers that nonwoven bags are made of nondegradable plastics and are "not really eco-friendly." The government plans to announce regulations for nonwoven bags in 2009.SEARCH
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Bag ban pinches the wrong group
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COMMENTS (3)
Vijay Merchant:
To some extent China has tried to follow the Indian Bags notification of mid 90s.The predicament of the bag producers in China is similar to what we experienced in India 6 or 8 years ago.Unlike in the west where the number of bag making units are few and users of bags are mostly the organized retail chains in Asia we continue to have hundreds of tiny bag making units in every state and thousands of mom and pop retailers. The unorganised sector in Asia is outside the control of administrators.The law abiding large bag makers suffer & organised retail compelled to use thicker bags.
Furthermore in Asia carry bags are used several times before getting discarded as waste so banning all bags is not a sensible answer.Our point has been need for massive awareness programmes against litter and much larger supply of waste bins along roads and parks, beaches etc.We have been seeking local bodies cooperation in this two pronged response but politicians seem to find BANS more attention creating to show common citizens that government is strict & can change things.
If an intellegently created mass awareness campasign is committed to for segragated waste collection with simultaneous schools education programme on anti litter, waste management and recycling, in 3 to 4 years nuisance of plastic waste in Asian cities can be overcome.We are not able to get a serious long term commitment from any municipality hence bans keep getting publicity in Asia but litter continues to be a headache.
Nina:
Thanks for sharing your insight, Vijay. When laws don't even get enforced, voluntary recycling programs will be only less effective. China's ban is different than the other bag bans introduced last year around the globe in terms of its scale and the attention to the bag thickness. I personally don't believe that thickness should be the focus point. It's only more eco-friendly to use an ultrathin bag to wrap a fish than a thicker one, because the bag will end up tossed away anyway.
bag manufacturers:
i think this was a great step taken by china government for our environment.