Study: Charging for plastic bags cuts use

Research by the University of Gothenburg showed the Chinese, the No. 1 consumers of plastic bags in the world, cut their use of them by half after a June 2008 ordinance against free plastic bags took effect.

Plastic bags is a growing global environmental problem and are becoming subject to various regulations in an growing number of countries with mixed results, a university release said.

University doctoral student Haoran He studied the effect of the Chinese ordinance as part of his thesis in environmental and behavioral economics.

"Our results show that this is an effective policy instrument that can be used to benefit the environment," He said.
"But we also found that there is further room for improvement. What's most important is to make sure that the ordinance is complied with."

A total of 3,000 consumers in Beijing and Guiyang responded to questions about their consumption habits and use and re-use of plastic shopping bags.

Prior to the ordinance, Chinese subjects in He's study used an average of 21 new plastic bags per week and rarely used the same bag twice.

After the implementation of the ordinance, the consumption of bags was reduced by 49 percent and almost half of them were re-used, He said.

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