China bans free plastic bags, even (China's) Wal-mart participates
- added April 23, 2008
- 22 responses
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- meligrosa
- added this
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- related topics
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- Earth and Science (12557)
- Environment (5602)
- China (2170)
- Earth (771)
- International (748)
- Eco-friendly (100)
- Wal-Mart (58)
- Plastic Bags (38)
- Plastic Bag Bans (22)
- Reduce Reuse Recycle (7)
Effective method?
Hey in Italy they charge about a dime or so per bag and everyone brings their own bag as second nature (well most places).
Article doesn't say though if all 101 of China's Wal-marts participate.
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Excerpt from the article:
"If we reduce plastic bag consumption by 50 percent for one week about 94 million, equivalent to 450 tons of plastic bags, can be saved. This reduction would save two to four million yuan in retail costs. This is just a result from one week of reduction action. Imagine how big the savings could be if we were to do this for a whole year!" the group said.
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Large supermarkets such as Wal-mart has been advocating use of eco-friendly cotton bags since late 2007. These bags are priced at three yuan, significantly lower than their production cost usually of around nine yuan, said Huang Li from Wal-mart's public relations department.
Hey in Italy they charge about a dime or so per bag and everyone brings their own bag as second nature (well most places).
Article doesn't say though if all 101 of China's Wal-marts participate.
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Excerpt from the article:
"If we reduce plastic bag consumption by 50 percent for one week about 94 million, equivalent to 450 tons of plastic bags, can be saved. This reduction would save two to four million yuan in retail costs. This is just a result from one week of reduction action. Imagine how big the savings could be if we were to do this for a whole year!" the group said.
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Large supermarkets such as Wal-mart has been advocating use of eco-friendly cotton bags since late 2007. These bags are priced at three yuan, significantly lower than their production cost usually of around nine yuan, said Huang Li from Wal-mart's public relations department.
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Very cool melifrosa - the story - and your picture.
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- VoyagerFilms
- 5 months ago
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a good reminder that china is doing a lot of things right.
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The frustrating thing is that this could happen in the U.S. if we want it bad enough. Plastic, in the form of bags and bottles, are a large chunk of the waste Americans produce and is an issue we need to tackle.
As for the pat on the back for Wal-Mart, I'll wait until they make changes like this here in America. Being "eco-friendly" is more a public relations move than actually caring about the environment. To inspire action from huge corporations, they need to know they'll come out on top in terms of dollars and cents and talking about articles like this is a way for us to open an indirect dialogue. Nice find! -
This is definately a good idea for the US to adopt. I have been studying in Sweden for the past year, and they do the same thing here. Sure, the price of the plastic bag is around 15 cents (higher and higher with the weak US dollar), it adds up, and does encourage many of the people here to bring in their own reuseable bags.
Do It! -
Ireland did that years ago, it's a brilliant idea
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This is an excellent idea - why aren't we doing it yet?
How can we go about getting something like this put into action here in the USA? -
Before the U.S. adopts this costly deal, they should start making all cities more eco-friendly. In Colorado, we don't have public transportation so everyone has to drive everywhere. Everything is spaced out so we can't park and walk a lot of the time either. We also have an almost nonexistent recycling system. If we could adopt recycling ALL plastic and paper bags, instead of just charging for them, it would make a lot more people happy.
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People keep asking, "Why aren't we doing this yet?" as if they are surprised.
Well, one reason might be a lobby group in Washington that is advocating against this. It would drive retail sales down, since people aren't going to want to pay the extra cost for plastic bags, and will most likely be too lazy to bring their own cloth bags.
Another reason is that right now, people WANT to 'Go green'. But they don't know how. It's easier than they might think! If consumers start CALLING/EMAILING their congressional representatives, and tell them that this is on their minds, maybe we could start something.
Also, start using cloth bags NOW! Don't wait until we have to start charging for plastic bags... take initiative and notice that our landfills are filling up... with deadly plastic toxins... and do something about it in your own community! If you are at college, join the environmentalist club and then educate fellow students on these matters! Do some things that will benefit not only your own life and your peers'... but that will benefit the Earth as well. -
It's a start, but as always, when you have to pay or get credit for it turns out to be a bigger incentive. Like when coffee shops honor bringing your own mug/tumbler that's the best!
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Here a link for San Francisco's ban "The ordinance also requires labeling..."
and an example of a (note the big print) reused bag I used today, says hello world!
Hard to figure how many people will actually 'reuse or recycle' them though... -
good story way
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Taxes and economic incentives work! Let's do it in this country!
...Bringing your own canvas bags to the store isn't a burden - I do it all the time and it just becomes a way of life, a necessity like remembering your wallet and your keys before you leave the house. -
Aldi supermarkets do it, why shouldn't everyone!!
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IKEA makes you pay 5ยข for the plastic bags, and they even got rid of their paper wraps for their glass items. Good start, but IKEA is now saying they will remove plastic bags completely in the coming year. Now if only our country could do the same.
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All ikea's stuff is not even worth putting in any bag on any sort it is all disposable breakable product that is made from fossil fuels not natural fibers, materials.
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Instead of us individually calling, mailing, etc. our government, why can't we start a nation wide petition to charge for plastic bags? I don't know how to go about that but there must be someone here that can do it. It should be on the climate crisis websites like stopgobalwarming.org, sierraclub.com, wecansolveit.com, etc. and any others we could all come up with. Would need an organizer who should be someone that knows these sites real well and how to get things going.
I always use reusable bags. I have one that zips into a checkbook cover size that I keep in my purse so it's always available. I go to a supermarket that gives 5 cents off for each bag you bring. It is quite an incentive. I would think being charged for plastic would be an even bigger incentive. -
Maybe we should gather all those willing to suicide, and we'll all have massive suicides if the government doesn't give us what we want.......(thick thick sarcasm)
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Why not just start making grocery bags out of polar bears and coal? Or better yet: out of plastic bag lobbyists and Escalade drivers!
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it's a great idea.
they do it in some places in the bay area & in south corea. -
Thanks I think so, too -- it's cheap!
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my hemp book-bag doubles as a grocery sack - and it triples as a messenger bag - and i'll be donating it to some friends of mine who make art paper when it wears out . it really disgusts me that plastic bag manufacturers have actually sued to keep their industry alive . nuke them all .
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Good Idea, kind of drastic though. But maybe stopping cold-turkey is the best way. Could you imagine if our country did this? The impact we would have on the world? We are such a big consumer if we stopped the results would be wonderful. America is all about change, however we dont want to give up our comforts for it.
--Jade-
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- addctd2whticnsay
- 5 months ago
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