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Plastic bag ban ignored at open food markets

By Liu Shanshan (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-06-10 17:29

Reporters, representatives from Beijing’s supermarkets and open food market and food safety experts attend a forum held by the Beijing-based Global Village to mark one-year implementation of Plastic Bag Ban on June 2, 2009. [chinadaily.com.cn]

Nearly 96 percent of all Beijing open food markets breach the plastic bag ban, according to a new survey conducted by Global Village.

The non-governmental organization released its survey's results on June 2 2009 to mark the one year anniversary of the plastic bag ban.

Related readings:  Plastic bag ban works in cities, not rural areas  China finds plastic bag habit hard to break  Still more to do after a year's plastic bag ban  One year after plastic bag ban, how is China doing?  Public awareness improves a year after plastic bag ban

It showed nearly 96 percent of all Beijing open food markets continue providing ultra-thin plastic bags and nearly 85 percent offer plastic bags to customers free of charge, which is against the law.

The ban was introduced on 1 June 2008 to reduce "white pollution" -- the popular term for plastic bags and styrofoam packaging.

The Chinese government banned all stores -- from small retailers to major supermarkets -- from giving out free plastic bags to consumers and also prohibited production and sale of bags thinner than 0.025 mm.

Plastic bags thicker than 0.025mm are legal as long as they are sold and not given out for free.

Wen Hengfeng, project manager of Global Village, said while open food markets seem to "forget what the plastic bags ban regulates" Beijing supermarkets closely follow the ban's guidelines.

"Nearly 93 percent of surveyed supermarkets demand consumers to pay for standard plastic bags."

Wen said it is easier to monitor supermarkets where all sales are recorded to cashiers' accounts. But it is harder to monitor open food markets where private vendors work with cash and who for fear of losing customers offer the cheaper ultra-thin plastic bags for free.

"Not a vendor here sells plastic bags to shoppers and if I charge them for a bag, they will never come to me. How could I?" said an open food market vendor from Beijing's Chaoyang District.

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