In fact, I live in Shanghai, China. Soon after this policy was released, I quickly got interested in it and thought that it was a really cool idea. The government finanlly did something about the huge negative impact on the environment in China.
At first several month, I have to say that the policy worked really well. Everything went exactly as it supposed to be. But however, several months later, plastic bags started to appear in markets and to be offered for free. What's worse, most of the plastic bags are extremely thin and I didn't know the ingredients inside.
I didn't know what to do. It seems that writing to the local government isn't as efficient as it suppose to be. Anyway, it is a servere issue that need more attention on it.
Oh, I was so excited in the first two paragraphs... It sucks that it did not work out. In my city in Brazil they tried getting rid of the plastic bags as well, but just a few months later people protested against the prohibition, advocating that it was a costumer's right. So now, we're in the same as you guys in China: people still use tones of plastic bags.
回复删除I think it was a great stride that China made, it's too bad it didn't work out. People need to be apt to change instead of being stubborn. These bags are awful for the environment and need to disappear.
回复删除In the city where I live in Sao Paulo, they also tried to put a ban on plastic bags, it failed miserably... If only someone could stick to this idea, it would reduce our footprint by a lot.
回复删除I'm glad to see that China took some steps towards taking care of the environment. Don't give up on trying to get through to the Chinese Government. Get everyone that you know to write to them. If I've learned one thing it's that your voice does matter and it can make a difference.
回复删除Different cities have different problem. When I lived in Shanghai, I can feel the faster life-pace and different attitudes toward life of people there. I feel it is important to act differently in different cities so that we could better deal with all these problems
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