China's war against "white pollution"

[PaPaPeng]

China's biggest plastic bag maker closes after ban
Jonathan Watts in Beijing
The Guardian,
Wednesday February 27 2008
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/feb/27/china.plasticbags

China's war against "white pollution" has claimed its first
large-scale victim with the closure of the country's biggest plastic
bag manufacturer.

The shutdown of Suiping Huaqiang Plastic, which employs 20,000 people,
highlighted the social costs of a government drive to clean up one of
the world's most polluted environments.

It comes less than two months after the state banned production of
ultra-thin bags and ordered supermarkets to stop giving away free
carriers from June 1.

That surprise move - which went further than anything done by the US,
the UK and many other developed nations - was hailed by Greenpeace,
Earthwatch and other green groups as a sign of growing environmental
awareness in China.

But it was a disaster for the company, which earned most of its 2.2bn
yuan (£155m) income from the annual production of 250,000 tonnes of
bags.

The firm ceased production in mid-January, after the government
announced the new ban on bags under 0.025mm thick.

"Over 90% of our products are on the limit list, so the only way
forward for the factory is closure," a management official told the
Xinhua news agency. The closure is unlikely to be the last. Judging
from their speeches, Chinese leaders are increasingly anxious about
foul air, filthy water and unhealthy levels of pollutants. The
crackdown on plastic bags is part of a campaign against "white
pollution" - the term used to describe the visual eyesores caused by
Styrofoam trays and carrier bags, which snag on trees and get blown
far and wide by the wind.

Supermarkets give out 1bn plastic bags every day, while shops and
restaurants use double that amount. Plastic packaging accounts for an
estimated 5m tonnes of crude oil each year.