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China Sacks Plastic Bags
The dragon is changing its color. China launched a surprise crackdown on plastic bags in January. Now production of ultra-thin bags is outlawed and supermarkets and shops are forbidden from handing out free carrier bags starting June 1. Reuters reports via the Xinhua news agency that the country's largest plastic bag maker—Suiping Huaqiang Plastic Co, which employed 20,000 workers—has closed following a state-led environmental campaign discouraging plastics. Before the ban, China used 3 billion plastic bags a day and refined 37 million barrels of crude oil yearly for packaging.
Compare with America's 380 billion plastic bags a year. That's right: 1 billion-plus "disposable" bags a day. Of which only 1 percent get recycled. The rest go into landfill. Or to kill wildlife.
Go green dragon.
Julia Whitty is Mother Jones' environmental correspondent, lecturer, and 2008 winner of the John Burroughs Medal Award. You can read from her new book, The Fragile Edge, and other writings, here.
Comments
Wow - That's a "huge" move :)
Mike
www.abc-packaging.com
Wow is right. That's awesome!
Posted by: nic on 02/27/08 at 12:49 PM Respond
That is the nice thing about having a one party authoritarian state, you can fix problems by edict instead of committee.
You don't want to be the "problem" that gets fixed though ...
Posted by: Jason Wolfe on 02/27/08 at 1:03 PM Respond
Yep, they banned leaded gas and the very next week, no lead in gasoline.
They did a pretty good job banning dissent in 1989 too ;)
Posted by: Mike 0 on 02/27/08 at 2:12 PM Respond
Those numbers about US plastic bag usage are disheartening. How could the US now follow China's lead though?
Posted by: Jamie Ward on 02/27/08 at 7:41 PM Respond
How? Through legislation, preferably with significant public support. If that's there, it should be possible, even despite the lobbying power of the petrochemical industries. However, it begins with us as individuals and households refusing to accept plastic bags and taking our own sturdy, reusable bags when shopping.
Posted by: Stevie Bee on 02/27/08 at 11:23 PM Respond
This is great news!
Becky
www.agreenerbaby.com
Posted by: Becky on 02/28/08 at 1:43 PM Respond
Didn't Ireland do the same thing a while back? NYC is "going green" with hybrid taxis; why can't *we* get rid of plastic bags? Oh right, Pres. "Global Warming doesn't exist" is in the W.H. Nevermind...
Posted by: Bleeding-Heart Liberal on 02/29/08 at 5:02 PM Respond
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Posted by: Mike on 02/27/08 at 2:57 AM Respond