(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2008-01-11 17:44

Imagine going back to the 1980's when Chinese people shopped using cloth bags or baskets? Those past scenes may come back again due to an official ban on the handing out of free plastic bags.

The State Council, China's cabinet, issued a notice on Tuesday requiring all supermarkets, grocery stores and food stalls to stop providing free plastic bags from June 1, and called for people to use baskets or cloth bags for shopping in the latest move to protect the environment.

"It is very interesting that, after over 20 years, we will use baskets again," observed an elderly retired woman surnamed Wang. "It is a good policy, and we should all support it and do our bit towards environmental conservation."

"I plan to sew some cloth bags for my family and remind them to use them when they go shopping," she said.

Some netizens also voiced support for the new policy. "Charging people to use plastic bags may be a way to wake up people's consciousness about the environmental hazard caused by those bags that won't decompose. It is very important for us to realize the need to protect the environment," said a netizen named Asgard_Thor on tianya.com.

However, some people raised the issue of convenience. "Plastic bags are convenient, and I am not accustomed to buying things without them," admitted a 35-year-old taxi driver surnamed Ding,

"I am not an environmentalist, and I do not want to pay extra money for plastic bags."

A woman shopping for fish in a Beijing market echoed the same remark. "How can we carry wet stuff without plastic bags?"

Others cast doubt on the effectiveness of the policy. "Can a fee of 0.3 yuan ($0.041) or 0.5 yuan ($0.069) for each plastic bag really effectively eliminate polluting the environment? Rich people do not care about such a small amount of money!" said a netizen named lengnibaitai.

There were also suggestions on enforcing the ban.

"The government should design effective mechanisms to monitor how this ban is carried out in all the supermarkets, grocery stores and especially the food stalls," said a civil servant surnamed Chen.

"Because of the wide use of plastic bags, the new policy may be not easily enforceable."

The 34-year-old also urged the government to come up with possible alternatives in order to strike a balance between convenience and environmental protection.