'deplastic' China: a new world
jennyzhu
June 02, 2008, 04:15 AM posted in General DiscussionFrom the 1st June 2008, retailers in China will charge consumers for plastic bags. During my weekend grocery run, I found myself in a moral dilemma. Find out more on jennyzhu.com.
pipsy
June 03, 2008, 05:02 AMI spotted a handbag in one of the Shanghai markets with "THIS IS NOT A PLASTIC BAG" emblazoned on it.
man2toe
June 02, 2008, 04:54 AM俺環保 (an3 huan2 bao3 ) (is 俺 a 多音字?)
俺快樂
Can you imagine the difference from day after day of more than a billion plastic bags being used to suddenly- NOT being used anyone? Wow, how the little things we do can impact how we experience life.
Thanks you for the post Jenny.
joannah
June 02, 2008, 05:00 AMWhile in my part of australia theres not a ban, plastic bags are becoming less acceptable. I often forget my green bags so i now own a pile of them. I do sometimes just get the plastic ones if i'm running out of garbage bags.
jennyzhu
June 02, 2008, 05:58 AM“俺”is Shandong dialect, but it is used in some other parts of the North too.
It's fascinating to see how people adapt to changes. Some switch to fabric bags, while a crop of practical-minded people use old plastic bags they've been storing for rainy days. For example, my dear mom who is a bit of a pack rat. She 'archives' all sorts of shopping bags. Now, she takes old plastic bags to the supermarket. Not entirely environmentally friendly. But after she uses them all, she shall be.
tvan
June 02, 2008, 01:03 PMI recall that one of plastic bags initial selling points was that they didn't require cutting down trees. I always wondered about that, since trees seem to grow faster than oil. (Though dissolving wood pulp is an ingredient in many plastics.)
Now the local "eco-friendly" coop that boycotted paper bags 20 years ago offers them exclusively with, of course, a discount for people who bring their own bags.
frances
June 02, 2008, 07:57 PMFor years, my grocery has been offering a five cent discount for each bag you bring and fill yourself. Some weeks it saves me as much as fifteen cents! It doesn't save me much, or cost them much, but I still bring my own cloth bags most of the time.
henning- When you say the "beginning of the 90th", do you mean the beginning of the '90s (or the 1990s)? If so, that seems impressive, with almost 20 years of successful reduction in plastic bag consumption. Congratulations!
henning
June 02, 2008, 04:45 AMIn Germany an equivalent system is in place since 1978 ("Tütengroschen"). However, the consumption of plastic bags has not decreased significantly until the beginning of the 90th. And they are still around in significant amounts.
Right now there is quite a few media coverage on the subject as we have some kind of "50 years plastic bags anniversary" (German only):
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plastikt%C3%BCte
http://einestages.spiegel.de/static/topicalbumbackground/1425/die_abschlepphilfe.html
frances
June 02, 2008, 08:46 PMThis has never been a problem for me. My village expects garbage to be in put 10-gallon bags, so plastic bags from the grocery store would not be helpful. I have always needed to buy garbage bags, but not frequently. It takes me a couple of months to fill one of those bags.
Truthfully, I could use smaller bags, but the cost to me would be multiplied for each little bag.
frances
June 02, 2008, 09:10 PMHow inclusive is the no-free-plastic-bags rule? I use cloth bags for grocery shopping, but I still get some free plastic bags:
Many types of food are sold in plastic bags, especially loose produce like green leaves, small fruits, etc... I assume that this must be fairly universal. Even at a farmers market it saves everyone time to have the lettuce already in 1/2 pound bags.
这无论什么地方都不是真的吗？
bennyboyk
June 02, 2008, 10:23 PMThe UK's slowly starting to realise this also. M&S have just started charging for plastic bags. I wonder how many more retailers will follow...
sophie20461
June 03, 2008, 03:55 AM我怀疑能不能真正的落实下去。
changye
June 03, 2008, 04:05 AMI got three plastic bags in total at the nearby supermarket this morning, here in China. I desperately need them because I use them as pooch bags for my chubby dog.
henning
June 02, 2008, 08:22 PMfrances,
yes, and sorry for my mistake. That is what I read in the cited articles. It is also pretty much in line with my personal behaviour - I gradually switched to linnen bags. But of course now we face the same dilemma as Jenny: We need to buy rolls of plastic bags for the garbage...
azerdocmom
June 02, 2008, 04:36 AM真有意思。我们大家一起 deplasticize, 好吧?