Want to use plastic shopping bags? Pay, please! And the bags will become thicker.

This is what hundreds of millions of Chinese shoppers will experience when they check out at cashiers of supermarkets across the country starting this Sunday.

In January, the State Council, China's cabinet, promulgated a regulation on the distribution of paid plastic shopping bags in retail outlets, which takes effect on June 1.

Under the regulation, as of Sunday, retailers could be fined up to 10,000 yuan (1,440 U.S. dollars) for providing shoppers with free plastic bags. Retailers would have to list the number and prices of shopping bags separately on the sales documents given to consumers.

The regulation also bans the manufacture, sale and use of ultra-thin plastic bags -- those defined as less than 0.025 millimeter thick.

The regulation does not apply to plastic packaging for the hygiene and safety of products such as food and cooked food.

This is so far the largest-scale action the country has taken in the retail sector for environment protection. It is of exceptionally-high significance, hailed industry officials.

"White pollution" has become a growing concern for the government as Chinese consumers have become accustomed to carrying their purchases in free plastic bags, which retailers began to offer more than a decade ago.

To date, plastic shopping bags have practically become a necessity of Chinese shoppers. According to the All-China Environment Federation, the country consumes about 3 billion plastic bags daily, with one-third of them used for vegetables and meat from supermarkets and farm produce fairs.

Plastic bags are mainly made of polythene and PVC. They will pollute the air if burnt. They will decompose over 100 years if buried, damaging soil.

"The campaign against plastic bags will effectively control white pollution in the country," said Dong Jinshi, vice-director of the Packing Resources Utilization Commission of the China Packing Association.

Industry experts say China could reduce two-thirds of its plastic bag usage if the campaign is effectively implemented.

Supermarkets in active response Supermarkets under the direct impact of the campaign have largely taken active actions to cope with the change. Soon after the State Council promulgated the regulation, supermarkets, shops and drug stores in Kunming City, the provincial capital of the southwest Yunnan Province, started to offer diversified environment friendly plastic bags and nylon plastic bags for local residents to buy. Many businesses granted free environment friendly plastic bags when shoppers had bought a certain amount of goods. On January 5, Wal-Mart supermarkets in Kunming extended 400 environment friendly shopping bags free to nearby local residents. They also set up prizes to encourage shoppers to use cloth bags and paper bags. "Our promotion did not achieve satisfactory effects. Few people returned to shop with cloth bags in our supermarkets," said Dong Yu of Yunnan Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. The three Wal-Mart supermarkets in Kunming are said to use about 10,000 plastic bags each hour. "Cultivating people with the habit of using as few plastic shopping bags is the first step to say no to white pollution," said Xiao Xinhe of the public relations department of Kunming Carrefour Hypermarket Co. Ltd. Xiao's hypermarket is lined with plastic shopping bags of diversified sizes, as well as environment-friendly bags, nylon bags and small shopping go-carts. "These shopping bags would bear goods from 6 kilograms to 20 kilograms, and they will satisfy demands of most shoppers,"Xiao said. Since retailers are allowed to set their own prices for plastic bags, only that they can't be below cost, a lot of supermarkets charged 0.2 yuan (.028 U.S. cents) to 0.3 yuan per small plastic bag and 0.4 yuan to 0.5 yuan per big plastic bag. Shoppers largely said they were a little expensive. Most Chinese shoppers say they support the government's move to restrict the use of plastic shopping bags. "It is good to use fewer plastic shopping bags, as it helps to reduce pollution and benefit our children," said some old fellows enjoying the cool near the sport center of Jinan, capital city of the eastern Shandong Province. Granny Chen from Ma'anshan Road of Jinan said she had searched out her bamboo shopping baskets that she put aside for so many years, since supermarkets would charge for the use of plastic bags. "In the 1980s, we used to carry bamboo baskets on the arm to buy vegetables and meat in fairs. When we met acquaintances on the road, we would stop and chat, looking at what they bought and asking about prices. It felt so good," said Chen. Different from the elders, young guys largely say they would go on using plastic shopping bags, even if they are charged. It is somewhat embarrassing for them to hold bamboo baskets to shop on streets, they confess. Whatever they choose, either bamboo baskets or plastic bags, old and young shoppers generally agreed that plastic shopping bags are charged a little too high. "We understand that the government sets up the charging rule for the purpose of reducing the use of plastic bags. But it is still too expensive for us to buy a plastic bag for 0.2 yuan or more," said Wang Zhiliang, a rural migrant worker at a building site in the southern part of Jinnan. Each day, Wang's building site would buy box rice from neighboring snack bars. They would use quite a few plastic bags to bring back the box rice. "We will feel distressed to pay 0.5 yuan for a plastic bag when our meal costs only 5 yuan each." In a Carrefour hypermarket in Jinan, a plastic bag bearing 10 kg of goods is charged as much as 1 yuan (0.14 U.S. dollar) each. Many shoppers complain the hypermarket is simply "robbing money" from their pockets. Publicity efforts demanded  The biggest challenge of "the campaign against plastic bags" is not money for most people, but their set mentality of enjoying the service of free bags that has been cultivated over long periods, industry experts say. "The campaign against plastic bags" should be based on reshaping the livelihood habits of the people and help them get accustomed to use environment-friendly bags. Only in this way will the people once again pick up cloth bags and bamboo baskets," said Sun Bonian, vice-president of the Resources and Environment School under Lanzhou University. "Therefore, the most crucial thing is to intensify our efforts to promote the idea of environment protection among the people," Sun said. "It takes time for us to carry out a new policy. We cannot expect the people to get used to the change in a sudden," said Liu Min, vice president of the Gansu Academy of Social Sciences in the country's northwest. "But these days, when the concept of harmonious coexistence between man and nature is deeply imbedded in people's hearts, we should assume our responsibility and duty to the environment, society and human beings," said Liu Min. Government organs in action To implement the policy, law enforcement organs of local governments have to overcome many problems in collecting evidence. Qingdao Industry and Commerce Bureau in the eastern Shandong Province, invested 60,000 yuan to buy 120 instruments to measure the thickness of plastic film. These facilities have been sent to grassroots organs of the bureau. Staff workers have received training programs for field law enforcement. With these tools, the bureau will launch a two-month supervision in June and July to check the use of plastic bags in all supermarkets and shops in the city. Regulation violators will be fined up to 10,000 yuan. In May, Linyi Industry and Commerce Bureau, also in Shandong, started to strengthen supervision of plastic bags accessing the wholesale markets. Linyi City is a key distributing center of small commodities in the country and a major plastic bag wholesaler in Shandong. As shown in the supervision results, the sales volumes of thin plastic bags have plunged in the wholesale markets in Linyi since mid May. Potentials for manufacturers The "campaign against plastic bags" will not only test the habits of shoppers, but also poses a challenge to the mass of plastic bag manufacturers in the country. To date, China has about 60,000 plants engaged in processing plastic bags. The southern Guangdong Province has nearly 10,000 such plants. Business insiders estimate that with the implementation of the "the campaign against plastic bags," the plastic bag market will shrink by half at least. About half of plastic bag manufacturers, especially small-sized ones that largely produce ultra-thin plastic bags for farm produce fairs and roadside vendors, will close down under the pressure of high raw material costs and a shrunken market. In January, Henan Huaqiang Plastic Co. Ltd., the country's largest plastic bag maker based in the central Henan Province, shut the business. The factory previously had an annual output of 250,000 tons or 2.2 billion yuan (316.8 million U.S. dollars) in value. About 90 percent of its products were ultra-thin plastic bags. Industry experts say that "the campaign against plastic bags" does not necessarily mean to restrict the development of the plastic packing industry. Elevating the environment-protection threshold is beneficial to optimize and upgrade the overall industrial structure. "We have adjusted the policy. If enterprises fail to respond in time to accommodate to new standards, it is natural for them to retreat from the market," said Dong Jinshi of the China Packing Association. He estimates that plastic bags will remain to account for about 80 percent of the shopping bag shares, even with the implementation of the policy. The exit of low-standard plastic shopping bags helps developing and applying new plastic packing materials. According to a CCID Consulting research report, degradable plastics will be a direction in the development of plastic packing materials. So far, China has listed degradable plastic packing into the sectors for preferential treatment. Degradable plastic packing will be widely used by the agricultural, food, daily cosmetic and medical treatment sectors. Industry officials say the per capita plastic consumption stands at 100 kg in European countries, 121 kg in Japan and 25 kg in China. As a result, the plastic industry, including the plastic packing business, will have big potential to tap in future. (Xinhua News Agency May 31, 2008)