Has China's plastic ban failed?

China introduced a nationwide ban on the use of ultra-thin plastic bags in 2008.

Nearly a decade since the policy was unwrapped, Chinese shopkeepers still use these banned ultra-thins to bag their wares up.

Nowhere is this failure more evident, perhaps, than Jilin Province, which has the country’s strictest restrictions on plastic bags. The production and sale of non-biodegradable plastic bags was banned there in 2015 – a rule that CGTN found remains largely ignored.

Non-biodegradable bags end up in landfills where they take 1,000 years to dissolve. And when they do they break down into tiny particles that pollute the soil and water.

“The ban is an administrative regulation, not a law! Also, the penalty for violating the ban is too little and not enough of a deterrent. That's why the ban has gradually lost its influence," said Ye Xinjiang, the director of a maker of bio-degradable packaging materials in the city of Changchun.

Another problem may be the bags themselves. Many shoppers may find bio-degradable bags as too flimsy to carry their precious groceries.

“Some of these bio-degradable bags are of poor quality. Customers often complain that the new carrier bags aren't strong enough,” said Jiang Xiaoli, manager of a big supermarket in Changchun.

Another obstacle in fully implementing the ban is that, even though Jilin has banned the production and sale of non-degradable plastic bags, nearby provinces have not.

"It takes time...before the ban can play its full role in enforcement. We believe as the technology develops, and as the administrative system is improved, the ban will be a success in the long run," said Song Gang, deputy director of the Development and Reform Commission in Jilin Province.

(CGTN)