SHENZHEN -
Shenzhen, the booming mainland China area that
neighbors Hong Kong, said it is considering
legislation to end the free use of plastic
shopping bags supplied by retailers. A ban would
make Shenzhen the first mainland city to battle
the rampant use of plastic shopping bags, but any
curbs will face public controversy.
Shenzhen's legislative affairs office has
been soliciting opinion on a revised draft of an
environmental protection regulation that would end
the 30-year retail practice of providing free
plastic shopping bags. The draft Environmental
Protection Regulation stipulates
that
retailers will be fined from 5,000 yuan (US$667)
to 50,000 yuan if they provide free plastic bags
or fail to provide environment-friendly shopping
bags or reusable baskets.
Zeng Suisheng,
chief of the economic laws and regulations section
of Shenzhen's legislative affairs office, said his
office had posted the draft on the city's website
and had written to more than 40 departments to
seek opinions.
The environmental
protection department has defended its proposal by
listing statistics on the environmental impact of
plastic bags. Retailers across Shenzhen, whose
fast-growing population is estimated at anything
up to 20 million, use at least 1.75 billion
plastic bags each year, it said, adding that most
of those bags will take more than 200 years to
decompose and some never will.
"The use of
plastic bags can be reduced in an efficient way
with economic incentives, as consumers must bear
the cost when shopping," a department statement
said.
Some industry experts welcomed the
proposal as a contrast to previous moves that
amounted to lecturing consumers. Dong Jinshi,
deputy chairman of the professional committee of
plastic recycling under the China Plastic
Production Industry Association, firmly supported
Shenzhen's efforts.
"Shenzhen City should
urgently investigate and pilot the use of plastic
bag substitutes and ensure a stable supply of
reliable, reasonably priced substitutes. Shenzhen
could pave the way for other Chinese cities in
tackling white pollution," he said, using the term
increasingly used to refer to the problem of waste
plastic bags and foam plastic food containers.
The free distribution of plastic bags,
which was introduced in Guangdong province in the
early 1980s, is taken for granted by many
customers as a convenience retailers are supposed
to offer. A woman surnamed Zhang, shopping at
Wanfeng supermarket in Futian district, said she
would be unable to carry home her groceries if the
supermarket did not give free bags.
Ding,
another resident, described the city's move was
aimed merely at attracting attention. "Shenzhen is
a city with a fast-moving lifestyle. Who do you
think will carry a basket for shopping? It will be
unimaginable to go to work by metro while bringing
a basket along," he said.
Mainland Chinese
are increasingly concerned about rising prices,
with higher cost of food stuffs helping inflation
rise this year to 4.4% through October, when
cooking oil was costing at least a third more than
a year earlier. One shopper, who gave his name as
Zhong, questioned why the city authorities were
insisting on doing something that would further
add to costs. "Why not let the business operators
offer degradable bags?" he asked.
One
posting on Tencent.com, a leading Internet portal,
said the government should not just impose fines
but should spend more to encourage the public to
use fewer plastic bags or shift to
environment-friendly substitutes.
Even so,
in a survey of 1,786 people jointly carried out
last week by the Social Surveys Center of China
Youth Daily and the press center of popular
Internet portal Sina.com, 74% of the respondents
supported Shenzhen's plan and favored the paid use
of plastic bags in their localities. About 93%
said they were willing to shoulder inconveniences
to protect the environment, while 51% recommended
incentives to get people to switch, instead of
imposing fines.
Some retailers in Shenzhen
have started to prepare for the charges. Chen
Songmei, manager of the cashiers' section with the
Caifu shop of Xinyijia General Merchandise
Chainstore, said charging for shopping bags would
improve environmental protection awareness. He was
confident Xinyijia's sales would not be affected
by charging for shopping bags, as the law would
apply to the entire retail sector. "Consumers will
not stop shopping just because they will have to
pay extra for carrier bags," he said.
Yu
Qiuhua, publicity manager of Tianhong chain store,
said the group's stores had been giving away free
degradable plastic bags since 1994 and had
distributed about 100,000 cloth bags free of
charge each year. The chain had no immediate plan
to charge for the degradable bags, which are more
expensive than the plastic ones given out by most
stores.
Zeng Suisheng, chief of the
economic laws and regulations section of the
legislative affairs office of Shenzhen City, said
he was surprised by the strong public response to
the proposal. Most of the e-mails and letters his
office had received supported the bag plan, he
said.
"The white pollution caused by
excessive use of plastic bags will be solved
permanently only if society can reach a consensus,
and the government, business operators and
consumers must make concerted efforts," said Zeng.
He said that no other details - such as
the proposed cost of each bag, or how the costs
would be shared among the government, businesses
and the public - were available at the moment.
"We will work closely with other
government departments and adjust the draft after
considering public opinions and suggestions," he
said. "The government should bear greater
responsibility, but Shenzhen people should also
abandon unhealthy habits, such as using plastic
bags."
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