The State Council of the Chinese government issued a ban on plastics bags in supermarkets, department stores and all the markets on Jan. 1, 2008, which means that plastic bags used to be free of charge will not be provided to the customers.

The public response to this issue is tremendous. Here is the result of a survey conducted by a famous website about how people consider the ban on plastic bags.

65% of the people think highly of the ban, for white pollution must be dealt with urgently. The Chinese population is very large, which means that we have to waste a lot of energy in producing plastic bags. More importantly, this serves as a good chance to promote public awareness of environmental protection. Undoubtedly, the overuse and poor treatment of the plastic products make serious energy waste and environmental pollution possible.

28% of the surveyed express their disproval of the new policy. They state that they have been accustomed to the convenience brought by the plastic shopping bags. Besides, the alternative is not available on the market.

7% think that there is no point in forbidding shopping bags like this. They are pessimistic about the future in the event of the poor public awareness of environment protection and lack of strict regulations.