China tries to curb addiction to plastic bags

0 Comments | AFP, May, 2008

BEIJING (AFP) — China joined a small group of nations Sunday in restricting the use of plastic bags, but there are doubts the rule would be effective in a country that consumes one trillion of them a year.

Supermarkets and other shops began charging for plastic bags as a government crackdown on the environmentally damaging items creaked into action.

The production, sale and use of ultra-thin plastic shopping bags was also banned in an attempt to rid the country of the "white pollution" that clogs its waterways, farms and fields.

Only a few other countries, ranging from Ireland to Bangladesh, have already taken similar measures.

But environmental organisations questioned whether the ban on free plastic shopping bags could be effectively implemented in...