Green Daily

While, as we've blogged before , China's environmental situation is worrisome, bordering on dire, an interesting bit of news comes our way today: China's government has decided to jump on the no-plastic-bags bandwagon, banning the production of the really thin kind and banning them altogether in supermarkets and stores beginning June 1.

China's people use up to 3 billion of the annoyingly flimsy and ubiquitous bags every year, so, argues the government, a large amount of petroleum is diverted to their production. (Oh yes, there is petroleum in plastic - I always forget, but yes indeed.) Some critics are saying that this move represents the government shunting enviro responsibilities onto its citizens, instead of taking the bull by the horns and regulating production more closely. While this is a good argument, heck, any law that keeps 3 billion bags out of the landfill/ocean/trees every year cannot be anything but good.