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Series

2011

Pollution

University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law

Articles 1 - 1 of 1

Full-Text Articles in Law

B.Y.O.B. (Bring Your Own Bag): A Comprehensive Assessment Of China's Plastic Bag Policy, Mary O'Loughlin Jan 2011

B.Y.O.B. (Bring Your Own Bag): A Comprehensive Assessment Of China's Plastic Bag Policy, Mary O'Loughlin

Student Articles and Papers

On June 1, 2008, the Chinese government enacted a nationwide policy prohibiting all stores from freely distributing plastic bags to customers. This new policy requires that, henceforth, all retailers must charge a nominal fee for plastic bags and that those purchasable bags must meet certain quality requirements to improve their potential reusability. These retailers, which include everything from grocery and clothing stores to farmer’s markets and food stalls, individually determine how much to charge for their bags and get to keep all related proceeds. The policy is an effort to mitigate the “white pollution” that is choking China’s landscape, as …