Society

Lhasa, 1st Chinese city to ban plastic bags

By Zhang Jiawei (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2011-06-16 16:55

As other cities in China are still struggling to contain the "white pollution" of flying plastic bags by limiting their use, Lhasa takes one step further, by banning bags from production to sales.

The move has made the capital city of Southwest China's Tibet autonomous region the first in China to stop the production, sales and use of plastic bags, as well as disposable tableware, cnr.cn reported Thursday.

Convenience stores, supermarkets and vegetable markets are all forbidden from providing plastic bags. Instead, environmentally friendly cloth bags would be offered, the news report said.

Other Chinese cities' usual practice of limiting plastic use is to charge for using them.

The environment protection bureau of Lhasa said factories that produce disposable tableware and plastic bags have been shut down to fully implement the ban.