"If we can reduce waste and save resources, then it's good both for us and the whole world," said 21-year-old college student Xu Lixian, who was buying tangerines out of cardboard boxes at a sidewalk stall.
The ban takes effect June 1, barely two months before Beijing hosts the Summer Olympic Games, ahead of which it has been demolishing run-down neighborhoods and working to clear smog. The games have added impetus to a number of policies and projects, possibly boosting odds for the bag ban's implementation.
Under the new rules, businesses will be prohibited from manufacturing, selling, or using bags less than 0.00098 inches thick, according to the order issued by the State Council, China's Cabinet. The council's orders constitute the highest level of administrative regulation and follow-through is carefully monitored.
More durable plastic bags still will be permitted for sale by markets and shops. The regulation, dated Dec. 31 and posted on a government website Tuesday, called for "a return to cloth bags and shopping baskets to reduce the use of plastic bags."
It also urged waste collectors to step up recycling efforts to reduce the amount of bags burned or buried. Finance authorities were told to consider tax measures to discourage plastic bag production and sale.
Internationally, legislation to discourage plastic bag use has been passed in parts of South Africa, Ireland, and Taiwan, where authorities either tax shoppers who use them or impose fees on companies that distribute them.
Last year, San Francisco became the first US city to ban petroleum-based plastic grocery bags. In France, supermarket chains have begun shying away from giving away plastic bags and German stores must pay a recycling fee if they wish to offer them.
Ireland's surcharge on bags imposed in 2003 has been credited with sharply reducing demand.
