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Joint efforts urged to slash use of plastic shopping bags

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-05-26 09:31

The Japanese delegate proposed Sunday that Japan, China and South Korea jointly urge the rest of the world to substantially reduce the use of plastic shopping bags as the three countries have made their respective efforts to this end.

At a G8 environment session on 3Rs (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle), Japanese Environment Minister Ichiro Kamoshita said that as the use of plastic shopping bags indicates heavy consumption of resources as well as dumping of a great deal of waste to the environment, it is of special importance to make joint efforts in this respect.

Japan, China and South Korea should thus made concerted efforts to urge the G8 members, Asian nations and the rest of the world at large to give priority to curbing the production of waste, and to cut down on the production and use of plastic shopping bags in particular.

Delegates present at the session also deliberated on issues such as formulating policies on 3Rs, promoting the reuse and recycling of resources and building a worldwide recycling-oriented society.

The G8 environment ministers meeting opened Saturday in the run- up to the G8 summit scheduled for July 7-9 at the Lake Toya resort in the Japan's northern main island of Hokkaido.

Three major issues of biodiversity, climate change and 3Rs are on the agenda of the three-day conference.

Environment chiefs and relevant officials from the European Commission, 10 emerging economies, including China, India and Brazil, and eight international organizations have also been invited to be present at the gathering.

The Group of Eight is composed of the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Canada, and Russia, the eight leading industrial nations, whose heads of government hold regular meetings known as the G8 summit.