The ban on free plastic bags will complete three years on June 1. Recently National Development and Reform Commission officials said the use of plastic bags in supermarkets had dropped two-thirds, and the Ministry of Commerce said the ban should be expanded to facilities like restaurants and hospitals. But for the move to be success, the government has to gain people's support, says an article in Huaxi Metropolis Daily. Excerpts:

The ban on free plastic bags was imposed three years ago without much public discussion or approval of the majority of the people. So it is not advisable to expand the ban without discussing the issues at stake again.

Media reports say the ban on free plastic bags has gradually lost its effects. When the ban came into effect, there was a sudden and large drop in the use of plastic bags.

But the environmental hazard seems to have made a comeback, because many people are willing to pay for it now.

Besides, the ban has met with huge supervision obstacles. The past three years haven't seen any supermarket or shopkeeper being punished for giving free plastic bags. The ban was never complete in open markets. But if the use of plastic bags there had dropped by 50 percent initially, it seems more like 20 percent now.

A more serious problem is the availability of bags made of toxic plastic, which are more harmful to the environment.

Many experts have suggested introducing measures that have been tried and tested in other countries. These include offering tax deduction to customers who use reusable bags for shopping - as is the case in the United States.

The Chinese government needs to consider such measures seriously before imposing simple but non-effective bans.

(China Daily 05/26/2011 page9)