Just goes to show that a multi-party system isn't always the best way to do things.

I mean the Chinese gov't is pretty corrupt at the moment, but at least it's trying to go sustainable. I'm living in Shanghai at the moment, and it's surreal seeing China tug between giving into the corporate, deluded American dream of car ownership and being sustainable.

Fuck Detroit.

XVX for life, R.A.S.H. 'til death.

Nice to see it's working out. :)

And speaking of obsessively bagging itty-bitty products, I understand Japan is also rather bad about that.

This is really great! it pains me to see so many plastic bags used at the grocery store whenever i go. Especially at Shop rite where the bags are yellow and really stand out.

What do we have to do to get a similar law or ban passed in the US??

San Fransisco did this already - they banned styrafoam and plastic bags and it's worked. It's about time the US as an entirety take this issue, environmentalism a step further and set a plan, get things moving to reduce our use of plastic and other quickly disposed wastes.

This is fantastic! If only other countries would follow China's lead.

One thing I've noticed, though, is that government intervention isn't necessary to drastically reduce plastic bag use. If cashiers and storekeepers just ask customers if they need a bag or not, they often find out that many of them actually don't!

Good to hear. Are people using reusable cotton or vinyl totes?

Wish that US (or at least NYC) would adopt a plastic bag ban too!

I do see the use of reusable bags (like the Beleaf Tote http://www.beleaf.com/) increasing in Brooklyn.

- Aaron Dalton, 1GreenProduct.com

Hann,

calling this a victory for the one party system is a farce.

Agreed. This is fantastic, but not a governmental triumph. Read where it says one-third of oil imports are used for plastic packaging (most of which is probably then exported, not used in bags in China, but no matter). This was an economically motivated policy. I never thought I'd see a day when China led the charge on any issue that made the world greener, but here it is. I can only hope green becomes the economical choice on more and more issues, so there won't be any more stupid arguments. Right now it already is for most, but often it takes more effort to see that, because you have to consider lifetime energy usage, cost of disposal, health care costs later in life, or (gasp!) externalities rather than just purchase price.

The free market is working on it. All the supermarkets in my area are competing with each other to offer the biggest "bring your own bag" discount, and making a profit in the interim by selling reusable bags at a steep profit.

I live in Japan, and the plastic bag scenario is MADDENING. If you are an expat and living here the first thing to learn to say is, "I don't need a bag" (fukuro ii desu.). It is getting better, though. Voluntary ban in Okinawa's capital has really made a difference. I'd say my own obsessive reusable tote-carrying self has probably refused about 3 million disposables in the last year. No, seriously!

Corruption exists in every political system. China, where per capita wealth is far lower and where the new rich escaped from poverty just not too long ago, is bound to have more corruption than the rich countries. But compared with countries in the similar wealth bracket, it fares better.

They deal with corruption very severely, in ways we find inhuman and theatrical. I find both China's autocratric rule and the democratic way have their strength and weaknesses. We should not insist they follow our system as we have a lot more double standards than them.
China is not Zimbabwe.

Living in Thailand for two years, I have refused the idea of plastic bags altogether! Thailand is another country where they put every little thing in a plastic bag. I don't need a bag (My tong sai tung). Yeah, I learned that quickly as well. Using reusable bags takes no effort at all and it is an action that people can feel great about. People see the affect they have by not having hundreds of plastic bags at home, and you get discounts for bringing your own bags.

I say ban the plastic bag in the US. We can live a lot better. And, educate people about it, encourage them to use reusable bags too. (It's not a fad, it's action)

I seriously wish we had this in the US.
My mom would use reusable bags if she wasn't afraid to get attitude from the woman at the checkout. I told her to just check out herself but...lazy, lazy, lazy.
In any case, go China!

I'd like to see the day the US would do even a small step in this direction.

It seems that big polluting China is ready to make sacrifices, while the US fear it might hurt the customer shopping experiance, which is of course way more important then the enviorment.

I think these bans are a great idea, but somebody always tries to find a way around them sadly. Here in San Francisco where there is a ban, I visited an Asian supermarket and was saddened to see that they were not offering paper bags at all, and had avoided the ban on plastic by using slightly thicker grade bags than the regular ones with 'Re-usable Bag' printed on them. They were not really any more re-usable than the thinner bags; this just seemed to be a way around the ban.

All the Ikea stores in the bay area are charging for plastic bags, and even has a large sign up at the check out explaining that the reason they're charging is to discourage you from using them! It seems to be working too.

In Germany, you bag your own stuff, but if you use their plastic bags, you pay for each one. That discourages excessive use.

"Just goes to show that a multi-party system isn't always the best way to do things.
I mean the Chinese gov't is pretty corrupt at the moment, but at least it's trying to go sustainable. I'm living in Shanghai at the moment, and it's surreal seeing China tug between giving into the corporate, deluded American dream of car ownership and being sustainable.
Fuck Detroit."

No,

It's really more of a sign that the leadership under Bush and the Republican party just sucks. I also hope you enjoy the fact that your crappy excuse for a government will kill political protesters and is still, statistically the crappiest and most polluting country in the world.

Boycott The Olympics!

It's really more of a sign that the leadership under Bush and the Republican party just sucks. I also hope you enjoy the fact that your crappy excuse for a government will kill political protesters and is still, statistically the crappiest and most polluting country in the world.

well.. what you described is america in 1930's and 40's and UK in industrial revolution . which is what china's going thru right now. therefore the double digit economic growth in the past 10-15 years.

america, the biggest economic engine really has been the biggest polluter, up until china emerges recently to overtake the unenviable 1st place.

this is not meant to condone the pollution in china.

but if you just travel more. and i find alot of strongly anti-chinese westerner has not, you'll find that china is moving rather rapidly on the environmental front. they're moving much quicker than any other previous economic giant, naming, US during its own road to superpower and economic giant.

it's a different time different era.

so anyway.. China still has problems, and lots. but the governement knows it can't sustain the economic growth w/o dealing with environmental problems. because of the high oil price, the depletion of soil and lack of water, the pollution, etc etc... this plastic bag is a great example. i agreed with one of the commenter this is an economic policy as well. b/c 1/3 of their oil is used in plasitc production..

but isn't alot of environmental policy finally adopted out of economic impetus?? ie. solar panels.. it only becomes popular in regions when the initial cost comes down and the local govenemnt starts to provide better incentives.. b/c most ordinary ppl just afford the early adopter cost no matter how green they wish to be.

everything is dollars and cents.. even environment policy. i think lester's brown's book explains this much better than i do and has numerous more examples.

the fact china is a single part system is key here. b/c the legitimacy of its rule now pretty much solely rests on its grip on economic success. if there's no economic success. they've got problems..

so to keep economic moving along-->must deal with environment-->so party can keep its power..

that's why i actually think it might move faster than most ppl think in dealing w/ environment..

but yeah. china has a totally different culture and political legacy.. i think US should really stay out of it and let them develope their own brand democracy.. the last time we try to do that is call the iroq war.. and that's still not going too well.

b/c along with wealth eventually come the will to be politically represented. you just need to look at taiwan..

but yeah. it'll take a while.. please note china has been ruled by one party system its entire history of 5000 years.. so when you're dealing with a culture so ingrained in the one party thinking it won't change overnight..

Let's get our perspective a little better. It should be obvious that China's 1/3 oil import goes into making packaging does not mean that 1/3 goes into making plastic shopping bags. I am sure it means all aspects of packaging like the foam and durable plastic bottles, etc.

I think this is an excellent way to reduce our use of depleting resources. I happen to work as a service clerk at a Walgreens and I see a lot of unnecessary materials get thrown out--plastic bags, receipts, etc. How exactly it is disposed, I don't quite know the full details of. I wondered about the resistance civilians might have to such a ban, but if China can pull through, then maybe the US can too. I have to admit I was rather skeptical. Most people, to my knowledge, are often in a hurry and don't think they can waste time with using cloth bags. But I guess it is just a matter of changing that mentality and the policy certainly could force that to happen.

In response to: "I think these bans are a great idea, but somebody always tries to find a way around them sadly. Here in San Francisco where there is a ban, I visited an Asian supermarket and was saddened to see that they were not offering paper bags at all, "
Paper bags are actually worse for the environment than plastic. They take more energy to produce and more energy to recycle. Plus, even most paper bags that are made from recycled content still contain virgin pulp.

The ONLY answer is a truly reusable bag.