I have often traveled abroad on business trips and have been to nearly 40 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, North and South America. What impressed me most is that almost all hotels do not provide disposable dental equipment, slippers, shower caps or combs. But in China, these things are essential. Even the best five-star hotels will provide such things. Only during the “two conferences” these disposables are not offered in the hotels accommodating the delegates.
Disposable goods are for single use only as the term suggests. It is a huge waste of resources. Moreover, disposable supplies are required to be low in price, and therefore, for the purpose of reducing costs, most of disposables are made of plastic products which consume fossil resources and, being not degradable, cause environmental pollution.
Living on the earth, people depend on it for all their supplies. Currently, the consumption pattern based by capital spending has become a heavy burden on the planet. Other species on the planet also obtain supplies from the earth, but barely leave any garbage because they themselves will join the circulation of materials in ecosystems. Humans are different. People have produced too much waste to be metabolized. And the waste of resources and environmental pollution is all attributed to people’s excessive consumption. Many human-made products become un-degradable garbage after being abandoned and even heavy metals are released into the environment. To fundamentally alleviate the earth’s burden and solve the garbage problem, humans had better revive the good tradition of pre-industrialization times, i.e., thrift and rational consuming habits.
On June 1st, 2008, the Notice of the State Council on Limiting Production and Sales of Plastic Shopping Bags came into effect, later known to the public as the “plastic limit order”. Since this notice was introduced, the ubiquitous ultra-thin plastic bags have disappeared. Being so fragile, they cannot be used for the second time. Sometimes, two bags are used to guarantee safe carriage. But they are un-degradable and will cause great damage to the soil structure. In addition to a ban on the production, sale and use of ultra-thin plastic bags, other types of plastic bags that comply with national quality standards will not be given free any more. The compensation for the use of those inexpensive plastic bags very effectively reminds residents that you should bring you own shopping bags. Since then, carrying one’s own bags or reusable bags have gradually become people’s new habit.
Reduced use of plastic bags seems trivial, yet contributes a lot to protection of the environment. According to a survey released by the China Chain Store & Franchise Association on May 20th, 2009, the consumption of all kinds of plastic bags in supermarkets fell by an average rate of 66%, resulting in an estimated reduction of 40 billion plastic bags a year! For example, Beijing produced nearly 20,000 tons of garbage daily, with plastic bags accounting for about 10%. After the order was announced, the garbage of plastic bags fell by more than 10%, which means a reduction of more than 200 tons of un-degradable garbage per day.
In fact, reducing the use of plastic bags is just an epitome of public environmental action. Every seemingly insignificant action in environmental protection from the re-use of articles, a conscious decision not to litter waste, to not using disposable items, from bringing your own cutlery when dining out, to refusing to buy overly-packaged products; from saving every drop of water and each watt of electricity... can make a valuable contribution. China’s construction of ecological civilization needs everyone to take such small steps for big results.
