Shanghai local shoppers happy to pay for plastic bags

BEIJING, May 30 -- Shanghai residents are more than willing to buy plastic bags or bring environmentally friendly carriers with them when shopping, Shanghai Daily found yesterday, the first day of the ban on free plastic bags.

Most stores priced its plastic bags from 0.1 to 0.5 yuan while the most expensive one, a large size bag in Watson, is being sold for 1.5 yuan (22 U.S. cents).

All the shoppers interviewed said they were happy to pay for the plastic bags to help protect the environment.

At a Carrefour store, there was a noticeable reduction in the use of plastic bags.

"Many customers brought environmentally friendly bags with them for shopping," said the store's spokesperson Li Jing. It handed out at least 300,000 such bags in the past two months to get customers used to the concept.

At Century Lianhua Supermarket's Luban Road outlet, customers who don't need plastic bags can check out through a quicker "green channel." The supermarket said the move encouraged customers to bring their own baskets or bags.

Some small convenience stores also reported a drop in the use of plastic bags. In a Buddies store, assistants said people had always asked for free bags even when buying small goods. But yesterday most customers who bought one or two items said they didn't need a bag.

At one Wal-Mart outlet, a customer surnamed Zhang bought a non-woven bag at the check-out. "This bag can be used repeatedly and is environmentally friendly," he said.

Many people interviewed said they had forgotten to bring bags with them and said they would need time to develop the new habit.

(Source: Shanghai Daily)

BEIJING, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Wang Yali is busy packing her groceries at a supermarket as usual. However, something is different today: she doesn't put her goods into plastic shopping bags, but instead stuffs them all into her own bag.

From Sunday on, all Chinese retailers, including supermarkets, department stores and grocery stores, will no longer provide free plastic shopping bags. China is trying to reduce the use of plastic bags in a bid to reduce energy consumption and polluting emissions. Full story

BEIJING, May 16 (Xinhua) -- Three government departments have unveiled the final version of a regulation on the distribution of paid plastic shopping bags in retail outlets, which takes effect on June 1, officials said here on Friday.

The regulation was jointly released by the Commerce Ministry, the National Development and Reform Commission and the State Administration for Industry and Commerce.